|
|
|
THEY
WANT THE PERMIT PARTY TO GO ON Fierce
attack of Alberto Valastro (CEPA -Argentine Fishing Company Council-) on Gerardo
Nieto -National Undersecretary for Fisheries. In view of the National Fisheries Undersecretary, Gerardo Nieto, refusal to authorize the transfer of fishing permits held by Iglú I and Mellino II ice chilling fishing vessels -questioned at UBA’s (University of Buenos Aires) audit- to a new Spanish outrigger trawler subsidized by the Eurepean Union, the businessman Alberto Valastro did full justice to his nickname, “blast” (“ventarrón”), and switched on the fan of very serious accusations. In fact, since he was beside himself
with rage in the face of the possibility of loosing a European Union new subsidy
-which, based on what he himself publicized, amounts to €
1.300.000- Valastro accused Nieto of protecting the interests of Spanish prawn-fishing
firms settled in Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces, the latter being the one where
the current Undersecretary was born. Apart
from this serious accusation, which will have to be denied by Nieto with the
impartiality of the facts he will be showing during his mandate, the thing is
that Valastro’s rage flares up whenever he runs into some limit imposed by the
authority. The fact that he is a man used to destroying obstacles, either
through “persuasion” or “demolition”, explains such an attitude. This is
the reason why he now resorts to Minister De Vido, who Valastro knows to be not
very fond of Undersecretary Nieto. Besides, he approaches him so haughtily that
it is impossible to separate such a superior air from the recent appointment of
his representative, Oscar Fortunato, as new Fisheries Undersecretary of Buenos
Aires province. However,
it won’t be an easy task for Nieto, De Vido o whoever took their places, to
solve Valastro’s little problem. Since
the permits of Iglú I and Mellino II vessels are in
the lead of the irregularities detected by UBA’s audit (see box), the transfer
of these permits places the authorities at a hard crossroads. The fact
that, in this case, Gerardo Nieto suffers
the consequences of his unaccountable delay of five months in performing his
tasks firmly and determinedly in the fishing permit issue cannot be ignored.
As ex-federal adviser, he is acquainted with, or should be fully acquainted with,
UBA’s report. Besides,
nearly three years ago, he voted for the organization of a Commission that would
make the requests for nullity of permits before justice, a Commission that was
never organized, but which should have been given priority during his mandate. Neither
did he act determinedly before the Treasury Attorney’s Office verdict (see About how Iglú and Mellino II handed over their permits…)
regarding the nullity of three permits belonging to Moscuzza firm, which could
result in a case of non-fulfilment of government official duties both for ex-Undersecretary
Rubén Marziale and for Nieto himself, if he fails to
act energetically in the respective indictment as well as in the fulfilment of
the previously mentioned verdict. The
fact of proving that the European Union massive subsidies are still used to
transfer fishing capacity to our fishing grounds remains to be reflected upon.
Clearly, ethics is far from being a parameter when it comes to granting those
subsidies. Otherwise, the transfer of permits of two vessels that, according to
the already extinct fishing agreement between Argentina and the European Union,
should have been dropped could never be acceptable. CeDePesca
29/10/2003
See related article: THE “V” STYLE
|
|
|