Paraguay
Senate committee on the IPS will initially focus on bank deposits of funds
The investigative group led by Dionisio Amarilla held its first meeting and will meet again on Thursday. According to the lawmaker, speaking to ABC Cardinal, the first focus will be the placement of IPS resources in the financial system.
The committee created by the Chamber of Senators to investigate alleged irregularities and the growth of debts at the Social Security Institute (IPS) began organizing its work and defined an initial line of inquiry: the placement of social security funds in banks.
According to ABC Color, Senator Dionisio Amarilla, who heads the committee, told ABC Cardinal that the first session served to appoint authorities. The group will meet again next Thursday to present the data-gathering tools it will use in its investigation into the IPS finances.
The committee is also made up of Lizarella Valiente, Lilian Samaniego, Natalicio Chase, Antonio Barrios and Esperanza Martínez. Its formation came after the scandal stemming from the indictment of two former presidents and several social security officials over alleged irregular handling of funds and infrastructure works.
According to Amarilla, the first aspect to be reviewed will be the distribution of IPS resources within Paraguay’s financial system. The issue came under scrutiny after it was reported that the social security agency had deposits at Ueno Bank above what is allowed by the Superintendency of Pensions Law.
ABC Color recalled that the law establishes that placement in a single financial institution may not exceed 10% of the total value of the global portfolio or 20% of the issuing bank’s enforceable liabilities. As of April, the IPS held 2.15 trillion guaraníes in Ueno Bank, equivalent to nearly 11% of its global portfolio. In July, the institution withdrew demand deposits to bring itself into compliance with those limits.
“The law has limits in relation to the banks’ equity and IPS placements, but since mostly unofficial reports are circulating, we want the IPS to officially inform us about its placements,” Amarilla said, as quoted by ABC Color. The senator added that the regulations have “very fine lines” when classifying those operations.
In addition to that point, the lawmaker said the committee will have to review the IPS’s overall context, including administration and health funds. Among the issues to be analyzed, he mentioned the criterion by which some providers are paid while others accumulate debts with the social security agency.
Also according to ABC Color, Amarilla had already said that the committee will summon the president of the IPS, Derlis León; his predecessor and current Health Minister, Isaías Fretes; and authorities from the Comptroller General of the Republic and the National Directorate of Public Procurement.
In that framework, it will also seek to determine whether the underfunding of the IPS Health Fund, which Derlis León placed at between $12 million and $15 million per month, is due to greater demand for services or to overbilling or other irregularities in procurement processes.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
