Grave, unpunished irregularities mount at Asunción Municipality

Serious irregularities are accumulating within the Municipality of Asunción, Paraguay, casting a shadow over public funds. Following the controversial issuance of bonds for stormwater drainage projects under former mayor Óscar “Nenecho” Rodríguez, a new scandal involves the supposed revitalization of ten public squares.

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To the disastrous case of the issuance of bonds to build stormwater drainage works under the disastrous management of the former Asunción mayor Óscar “Nenecho” Rodríguez, is now added the case of the ten squares that were to be “revitalized” with 10% of what was obtained from the G6 bonds issued in 2020, for a total value of 100 billion guaraníes.

These projects were slated to receive 10% of the funds from the G6 bonds issued in 2020, totaling 100 billion guaraníes. However, a recent request for public information revealed a significant lack of transparency. Neither former interim administrator Carlos Pereira nor the General Comptroller's Office has thoroughly investigated this matter. Furthermore, municipal departments lack basic records, plans, or documentation for the planned "revitalization" works, hindering any oversight.

Even the Municipality's own Directorate of Transparency, established ostensibly to inform citizens about public fund management, appears to have failed in its duty. The National Directorate of Public Procurement (DNCP) has only partial information indicating that the Naciones Unidas square was partially revitalized at a cost of 971 million guaraníes, out of an awarded sum of 2.332 billion guaraníes. The fate of the remaining funds, estimated at nine billion guaraníes, intended for nine other squares, remains unknown.

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The lack of transparency, if one can call it that, even affected the municipal departments themselves. Mind you, the Municipality has a whole Directorate of Transparency, surely created to distribute positions to friends, relatives, and party members, rather than to allow citizens to find out, among other things, about the management of public money.

The Municipal Board has continued to approve financial statements without questioning the destination of these funds. This passive approach ignores Article 276 of the Municipal Organic Law, which holds council members personally liable for damages caused to the Municipality through actions that violate legal norms. The lack of accountability and transparency surrounding these public works projects raises serious concerns about the management of Asunción's finances.

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The Municipal Board did not flinch, but continued to approve them meekly, without caring about the destination of the money or that Art. 276 of the Municipal Organic Law states that councilors are personally responsible with their assets, according to civil and criminal laws, for damages caused to the Municipality in the exercise of their duties, for acts and operations that they authorize against current legal norms.