Minister of Education counters declarations made by comptroller Ramiro Mendoza

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SANTIAGO. – It was a tense day on the job yesterday at La Moneda.  The Executive Branch came out to the defense of the Minister of Education, Yasna Provoste, in the aftermath of a scandal over irregularities in the disbursal of educational subsidies in the Metropolitan region. According to the National General Comptroller’s Office, the amount reached 2.6 billion pesos. Provoste refuted the estimate, stating that it was completely unfeasible for the amount to have been over 200 million pesos.

The Minister maintained that “in response to this administrative mix-up, we were able to complete a reconciliation of the finances and by September of 2007 we informed the Comptroller’s Office of these adjustments and provided them with proof of the resources distributed to the subsidized schools”. 

In response to comptroller Ramiro Mendoza, the Minister claimed that through an internal process, all of the financial adjustments were carried out in September of last year.

She also stated “if one is to look at this objectively, 2.6 billion pesos would represent practically half of the entire subsidy for the Metropolitan Region”.