Politics
Maracaibo mayor-elect Manuel Rosales appeared at the National Assembly Comptroller Committee to testify on presumed irregularities during his incumbency as Zulia state governor.

The parliamentarian committee interrogated the former governor about the claims of tax evasion in the Zulia lottery for USD 8.8 million and the donation of a vehicle property of the state to local police commander Jesús Cubillán.

The committee is headed by deputies Mario Isea, Giovany Peña and Julio Moreno. The first item in the agenda was the alleged malfeasance by outgoing governor Rosales at the Zulia lottery.

Rosales lamented that he appeared at the committee after being the target of a "volley" of lies, insults and false charges.

He said that the clearance of the Zulia lottery came up in a "political bump" because they succeeding in turning a bankrupt company into a thriving agency that helps the Zulia citizens.

"As for the lottery; when we arrived in the Zulia state government, we received from the administration of Arias Cárdenas, Giancarlo Di Martino and Mario Isea a broken institution that had been used as petty cash for political purposes; it was one of the most discredited institutions in Zulia and Venezuela."

Carolina Contreras
EL UNIVERSAL