The Judiciary issued a statement after the controversial approval of the purchase of 22 Lexus brand vehicles to renew the fleet of vehicles that transport magistrates.
The Superior Council of the Corporation supported the purchase of Lexus brand vehicles of the ES300h model, whose list price would be around $56,990,000, which generated a series of criticisms.
Given this, the Communications Directorate of the Judiciary reported: “In relation to the publications that appeared in the press on the occasion of the Supreme Court’s decision to renew the institutional vehicles, it is appropriate to clarify that the agreement on the matter was adopted after an evaluation procedure previously initiated by the Administrative Corporation of the Judiciary.”
“This process has not been completed, so the fiscal resources that the Ministry of Finance has provided for this precise purpose have not yet been executed,” he added.
Without reaching an agreement, the 13 ministers present approved what was defined by the Administrative Corporation with 11 in favor and only with the votes against the president, Ricardo Blanco, and the minister Andrea Muñoz.
In this regard, the Judiciary detailed that the current fleet dates back to 2014, so the replacement complies with what is stated in the instructions on good use of fiscal resources, which stipulates that “only renewals of vehicles that are older will be authorized.” to eight years.”
Minister of Finance
Asked about the issue, the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, indicated that “the Judiciary in the execution of its budget is autonomous from the government, the government does not decide which cars are purchased or when they are purchased. What has been known these days is an autonomous decision of the Judiciary.”
He added that “I don’t have much more to say, maybe just make a contrast. I have a 2015 vehicle with 260 thousand kilometers on it and it still works well,” said Marcel.
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