The provincial government is promoting the creation of the Penitentiary Prosecutor's Office, which will have five hierarchical positions with millionaire salaries. The state agency will generate a new fixed public expense while the province is going through a stage that requires a great deal of fiscal austerity. Next Monday, the Legislature will address the lists of candidates, among whom is a Radical leader as part of a political agreement.
The new judicial structure will be headed by the current prosecutor Bettina Croppi, who will start earning a salary equivalent to that of a member of the Superior Court. In addition, four deputy prosecutors will be appointed, who will receive similar compensation, increasing the fiscal deficit that taxpayers pay. The opposition estimates that the operating cost will be between 10 and 15 million pesos per month for each senior political official today.
The official project establishes that the positions will be for life and will have a special privileged retirement scheme for those selected. Despite the enormous fiscal cost, the agency will be merely consultative in nature, without real decision-making powers to act in the cases. The office will not have active procedural standing, which turns the structure into an expensive and bureaucratic administrative office today.
Debate in the opposition and agreements
Florencia Degano's proposal to occupy one of the deputy positions caused a strong internal debate within the Unión Cívica Radical bloc. The appointment of the lawyer responds to the political base of Julio Ochoa, who is the current secretary of the Provincial Committee of Radicalism. A sector of the century-old party questioned the timing of occupying these positions in the midst of the economic crisis that the province is going through today.
