The Ministry of Human Capital presented a report to Eduardo Taiano's prosecutor's office after having carried out a cross-referencing of migration data with
beneficiaries of the Empower Work program:
122,600 registered migratory movements.
Of which 2,939 made trips by plane or cruise.
Some 85 chose countries outside of Latin America as destinations.
There is more: 14,695 stayed more than a month outside the country.
"Irregularity detected will be a plan that will be canceled,"
the Government maintained when more details were known about the holders of the Empower Work social plan who between 2020 and 2023 registered trips abroad.
The documentation provided in the case that has been in Comodoro Py since last year, Judge Julián Ercolini specifies that the destinations are in Latin America.
In January of this year, the Legal area of the ministry headed by Sandra Pettovello, was presented in the file that was opened last year after the complaint of Guillermo Marijuan, head of the Fiscal Unit for the Investigation of Crimes related to Social Security (UFISeS).
In the complaint he claimed to cancel 159,919 beneficiaries of the “Potenciar Trabajo” social plan who traveled abroad.
What the ministry created by the La Libertad Avanza administration requested and which put an end to the Ministry of Social Development, which Victoria Tolosa Paz managed in the last stretch of Alberto Fernández's administration, was access to the immigration information that had joined the cause.
The report accessed by
Clarín
maintains that "a temporary cut was made" to the information obtained.
The same is from March 2020 onwards.
Since then, "the number of registered migratory movements was reduced to 766,759 records and 151,112 unique people."
The Ministry of Human Capital carried out the task of cross-referencing this documentation with all the beneficiaries of the Empower Work plan.
Four files were received "which contained a total of 1,458,219 immigration records, made by a total of 211,977 unique people between October 2009 and September 2023."
One of the first data in the report warns that - in the intersection between these records and the updated base - "a total of 122,600 active holders as of December 2023, always contemplating migratory movements carried out from the month of March 2020, date of creation of the Program".
It must be remembered that in December, Pettovello reported that 4,588 plans were canceled after detecting that the number of active holders who received social assistance were state workers.
Now the magnifying glass is placed on thousands of holders of the Empower Work plan who register trips abroad.
Three criteria were used to cross-reference the data: holders who traveled for more than 30 days, holders whose trips were by plane or cruise, holders whose trips were outside Latin America.
The alarming data
According to the report from the Ministry of Human Capital that was presented in court:
85 active Potenciar Trabajo holders traveled to destinations outside of Latin America.
2,939 holders traveled by plane or cruise
14,695 beneficiaries traveled for a period of more than 30 days.
4,782 of the active owners register more than one analyzed criterion.
The detail to which Clarín had access shows that 22,501 beneficiaries of Empower Work appear in at least "some of the three requested criteria and are active to date."
According to official sources told Clarín, the irregularities detected are grounds for canceling the economic assistance program.
Beneficiaries and damages
When he filed the complaint, prosecutor Marijuan spoke of damage against the State of a total of $10,554,654,000 per month.
The figure responds to the initial calculation if the sum of $66,000 that each holder of the Empower Work plan was received in October 2023 is taken into account.
In January, the beneficiaries of the Potenciar Trabajo Plan received $78,000, the same as in December because there was no increase.
But according to official calculations, the program went to $180,000 from February 1 and will increase again to $202,800 from March.