Alexander Alfie
05/27/2021 10:06 AM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 05/27/2021 10:06 AM
He does not receive a salary as an employee of Public TV, but he goes to work almost every day.
He is Rosario Lufrano's trusted person and
shares an office with the Sports manager
.
He is an ad honorem advisor and was on the channel this Wednesday, defining how Public TV is going to cover the Copa América.
He also reported last month to the Directory of Radio and Television Argentina (RTA, the company that manages Public TV and National Radio) about the characteristics of the
contract
costs
of $ 175 million
, for the television transmission rights of 42 parties of the South American qualifiers for the Soccer World Cup, which start next week.
This is the journalist
Carlos Asnaghi
, who
was to be vice president of RTA
, as was officially announced by the Télam agency on January 15 of last year.
But then that could not be specified, because Asnaghi had collected a voluntary retirement in 2018, for more than $ 2 million, which prevented him from working on the channel again until 2028.
Asnaghi was Sports Manager for almost 12 years
at Public TV, between July 2006 and the end of February 2018, when he earned $ 176,624 per month;
and is the CEO of a Uruguay-based company, Bolwer Content Production.
As they could not rehire Asnaghi - unless they did so as an exception and returned part of the money from the voluntary retirement - in early 2020 the RTA authorities
appointed him as an ad honorem advisor
and gave him space to share. the office with the
Sports manager, which is formally occupied by Gabriel Valentini.
But in fact, the one in charge of the Sports management is Asnaghi.
It defines how the teams are assembled for coverage, at what times the programs go and interacts with the Secretariat of Media and Public Communication for
the contracts of the America's Cup, the Soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games
.
At the last RTA Board meeting that
Clarín
attended
, on April 5,
Asnaghi verbally reported on the negotiations
for the acquisition of broadcasting rights for the World Cup matches.
There Asnaghi reported that there was a proposal to contract 42 soccer matches for US $ 1,837,500 (plus VAT), which is equivalent to $ 174,562,500 (plus VAT), as stated in the Board Act No. 110, to which he had access
Bugle
.
These are 14 matches played by the National Team and 28 matches by other soccer teams.
Carlos Asnaghi and Amalia Rosas when they hosted the Telefé newscast in the '90s.
However, at that meeting of the RTA Board of Directors, Asnaghi's proposal was not approved, since the Supervisory Commission stated that "the reasonableness and convenience of the contracting price" did not emerge from the file.
According to Asnaghi,
the RTA Board of Directors later approved that contract,
since it meant "significant savings" compared to what the previous management had paid for the 2018 World Cup qualifying rounds. "They paid US $ 380,000 for each match of the Argentine team and we we are paying US $ 110,000, "the advisor told
Clarín
.
In any case, Asnaghi
assured that he only intervenes in "production issues, not in the monetary negotiation
, which is carried out by the Ministry of Media and Public Communication", which is in charge of Francisco Meritello.
Sources close to Meritello confirmed that it is not Asnaghi who negotiates the broadcasting rights of the World Cup qualifiers, but the official himself, who
then "informs Asnaghi" of the results of that negotiation.
That is to say that even in the official version,
the official informs Asnaghi, but not the
channel's
Sports manager
, Gabriel Valentini, who is the one who should formally deal with these contracts to broadcast the World Cup matches, the America's Cup and the Games. Olympic
The question that the critical sectors of the channel ask themselves, who
see it daily in the corridors, the office and the bar of Public TV,
is whether the dedication that Asnaghi puts to work is only because of his vocation of service, which leads him not to receive a salary and to be in the negotiation chain of a contract for $ 175 million, among others, in addition to putting money from his pocket to go to the channel, dedicating several hours a day and even putting his health at risk, since it is a person at risk, for being retired, with 67 years of age.
Asnaghi's situation occurs in the context of a deep crisis that the public media is going through, where last week they fired the tenth official since
the scandal of the withdrawal of $ 11.4 million in cash bags from the channel
broke out
,
which were supposedly for pay -also in cash- to the providers of the series
Los amores prohibidos de Belgrano.
"
There is nothing mysterious in all this
. I was called to be a sports content advisor for RTA, for the Copa América, the Qualifiers and the Olympic Games. I was going to participate until August of last year, but everything was postponed. It is likely that some see me as the Sports manager, from my experience and because sometimes those who are next to me cannot explain a contract, but I do not fulfill that role, "Asnaghi told
Clarín
.
And he added: "the Uruguayan company is not active in the production of content, because I cannot go to Uruguay yet. But when I finish my advice in RTA I would like to go there, to produce regional content."
Rosario Lufrano, president of Radio y Televisión Argentina.
RTA press photo.
The relationship between Carlos Asnaghi and Rosario Lufrano
Asnaghi has extensive television experience and
a shared career with Lufrano.
Both worked together in Telefe Noticias, during the '90s.
And then Lufrano appointed him in charge of Sports on Public TV, when she was its executive director, in 2006.
As soon as Alberto Fernández resigned as Cristina Kirchner's chief of staff, in 2008,
Lufrano also resigned as the director of Public TV,
although she continued for several more years with a service lease contract, despite the fact that she did not have a clear role in the channel.
In May 2016, Lufrano dissociated himself from Public TV, with a "contract termination" by mutual agreement, to which
Clarín
had access
, when he charged $ 35,000 per month and achieved a cash payment of $ 1 million,
with the legal sponsorship of the lawyer Alberto Fernández
, today President of the Nation.
In that
Lufrano
agreement
there was no clause that would prevent her
from working at Public TV again, for which she returned at the beginning of 2020 as president of RTA, with a salary that at the end of that year was $ 427,408.
While Asnaghi signed a voluntary retirement and early retirement plan in 2018, which prevented him from returning to work as an employee there for ten years.
In Asnaghi's "Labor Agreement", to which
Clarín
had access
, it is reported that he charged $ 1,301,585, in eight equal and consecutive installments, "the last being that of the subsequent month in which the worker reaches 65 years of age", plus a payment of $ 706,497 as a benefit for the early retirement group and another $ 64,000 for the medical benefit.
At the same time, Asnaghi and RTA undertook that "personnel who have been disengaged through this Program will
not be able to re-enter the service of the National Public Administration during the ten (10) years
after their discharge, either as permanent or temporary agent. or hired ".
However, Asnaghi returned to work for the channel, although without receiving a salary. A legal solution, which some wonder if it is ethical or moral. Especially when it comes to a return so soon and with so much responsibility, to
work
for
free and participate in contracts
for hundreds of millions of pesos.
