The scandal over the
waste and assumptions negotiated
through the contracting of insurance by different agencies of the national public administration, revealed by
Clarín
this Sunday, continues to grow with new stains in which the shadow of million-dollar corruption is projected.
After the discovery of a copious political black box in Anses, the new scene of a similar maneuver is another public office with thousands of employees and equipment: the Ministry of National Security.
With an aggravating factor: the dealings with the insurance companies had ended and became transparent during the previous administration of Patricia Bullrich in the ministry, and
were expressly replaced
by her successor during the government of Alberto Fernández,
the anthropologist Sabina Frederic.
Now eliminated again, Security
estimates the savings at 500 million pesos.
"When we arrived in 2015, the contracting of insurance for the mobile phones of the security forces and the ART for the Federal Police, for example, was done by each force as they wanted, it was a lack of control. We unified and centralized these services, we put them out to tender and Nación Seguros and Provincia ART arrived respectively,"
the Secretary of Administrative Coordination of the Ministry of Security, Martín Siracusa, reviews with
Clarín .
"Then we found out that each contract was made through a broker or agent, who of course charged a commission and could be chosen without anyone knowing. We couldn't believe it, but it was one more strange thing among many that we found. We we got them out of the way and dealt directly with the insurers," Siracusa continues.
Security is a desirable preserve for any company: there are thousands of cars, boats, planes and even horses to insure.
The changes in insurance contracting awakened a wave of lobbyists who tried to reverse them, including some prestigious lawyers.
But after a few months of turbulence the new rules were accepted.
"On top of that, we greatly improved benefits, because the winning companies in the tenders agreed to sign administrative agreements to add more services for the same amount," says the national official.
But that cleanup was reversed under the watch of Alberto Fernández.
"When we came back now I couldn't believe it," Siracusa exclaims.
"Once again, each force made its contract and put the intermediary that came to mind. There was a specific resolution to allow it - and in practice force it - in the time of Sabina Frederic.
It was signed on September 22, 2020.
Of course it was not she was nothing more than an undersecretary, but it was undoubtedly a political order.
"On December 20 we sent the request to Nación Seguros to fly all the brokers and start again."
Just by clearing out the intermediaries,
Seguridad will save about 500 million pesos this year
, which could be double when the other major contract with Provincia ART expires in May.
"Now we have returned to renegotiate the price and benefits of the insurance, because the cost of the brokers was also borne by the company. Patricia went to the extreme with this, as always. We have two people assigned to permanently follow this service and there is one more in each of the security forces. In the previous administration we held meetings every week with the insurers, to follow each case with photos, papers, applications on the phones. Then they dismantled everything," Siracusa says without naivety.
20,000 million pesos to insure retirees
On Sunday,
Clarín
revealed the discovery and cessation by the fleeting head of Anses, Osvaldo Giordano, of an expense of 2,000
million pesos
that were paid per year to Nación Seguros to
ensure the lives of retirees and pensioners to whom gave credits.
Since 2011 it had been granting them without this insurance.
In addition to the enormous cost of the contract, Nación subcontracted other insurers and, as a bridge between the two state agencies, a broker, with an alleged commission three times higher than the market: 17%, equivalent to about 300 million pesos per month.
Among those intermediaries linked to politics, the businessman close to Sergio Massa
Pablo Torres García
,
Juan Manganaro
, from the Gaman Group, which manages Provincia ART, and
Héctor Martínez Sosa
, friend and alleged personal creditor of Alberto Fernández, were targeted.
See also
See also
Espionage on judges: the Federal Chamber gave prosecutor Carlos Stornelli access to all the content of the cell phone of a leader of La Cámpora
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