Mendoza's Supreme Court of Justice upheld a ruling ordering former Instituto Provincial de Juegos y Casino (IPJyC) administrative manager Daniel Osvaldo Molina to repay over irregularities in the contracting of cleaning services at Casino de Mendoza.
The surcharge amounts to ARS880,059 ($586.91), plus accrued interest. Judges Omar Palermo, Mario Adaro and José Valerio rejected Molina's appeal, leaving the Tribunal de Cuentas' ruling in force.
The surcharge reflects the original amount imposed by the Tribunal de Cuentas. The total amount payable is higher due to interest accrued since the ruling was issued.
The case originated in a 2018 ruling by the provincial Tribunal de Cuentas, which reviewed the IPJyC's 2015 accounts and found that cleaning company Masterful SRL had been paid for labor hours and technology services that were not actually delivered at the Casino de Mendoza.
The audit body issued surcharges of ARS3.08m and ARS2.91m against those responsible, for a combined joint liability of ARS6m.
Molina, who served as the IPJyC's administrative manager, argued the Tribunal de Cuentas ruling should be annulled. The Supreme Court found insufficient grounds to accept his claim, ruling that officials responsible for overseeing the contract failed to verify whether the billed hours matched hours actually worked, despite having access to attendance records that would have allowed such verification.
The judges said in their ruling: "By failing to do so at the time, payments were ultimately made for service hours that were never provided, causing financial harm to the State and resulting in the sanction.”
The case is one of several stemming from the same 2018 Tribunal de Cuentas findings against former IPJyC officials from the administration of former governor Francisco Pérez.
Other officials sanctioned in related rulings, including former IPJyC president Carlos Bianchinelli and former directors Federico Domínguez and Miguel Bondino, have had their charges annulled by Mendoza's provincial courts in separate proceedings.
Masterful SRL shared ownership with Dela, the company that was responsible for the 2014 fire that damaged the dome of Mendoza's Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte
