After the controversy generated by the purchase of vehicles from the luxury brand Lexus, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court, headed by Minister Ricardo Blanco—who had opposed the measure—announced the suspension of the decision to renew the fleet. of automobiles of its members, previously planned for this year.
“This Court is not oblivious to the contingency and context of the events that concern the country“, the highest court in the country began explaining.
The secretary and judicial prosecutor (s) Jorge Sáez read the text agreed upon by the judges and highlighted that the decision to renew the institutional vehicles assigned to the Supreme Court in 2014 was based on “technical and security antecedents, preferring standards of environmental sustainability”.
“It is these and no other considerations that were taken into account to adopt, at the time, the approval of the renewal of the vehicles,” the Court held.
The Supreme Court also explained that, although the Budget Law for the current year did not include the allocation for this renewal, the Budget Directorate had committed to allocating additional funds, as recorded in session records of the Ministry of Finance.
However, the formal request to apply these additional funds has not received a response from the Budget Directorate, which led the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision. Thus, after an exhaustive analysis of the situation, it was decided to leave the prior agreement for the purchase of 22 Toyota Lexus model ES300H automobiles without effect.
The Supreme Court reiterated its autonomy in administrative and financial management, recalling that the Judiciary has the power to execute its budget independently. Likewise, he pointed out that any decision to acquire goods and services is made after a rigorous analysis of the available background information.
Consult the statement from the Judiciary.