The judge of the Investigative Court number 3 of Alicante has summoned former Urban Planning councilor Mar Chao and 14 other people as suspects for alleged irregularities in the awarding and management of public housing. Chao, from the APV party, states that she will not resign and that she will collaborate with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
The allocation algorithm that failed in fairness 🏠
The investigation points to possible deviations in the VPP allocation system. In a digitized process, the scoring criteria should be transparent and auditable. However, suspicions of manipulation in the scoring scales or in the selection of beneficiaries are a reminder that poorly configured software or software with privileged access can create holes in public management. Data traceability will be key.
The good politician's manual: don't resign, collaborate 🤝
Mar Chao is not leaving, but promises to help. A classic stance in these cases: staying in office while it is clarified whether it was all a computer error or a manual fix. The good thing is that if things get complicated, she can always say it was a system bug. Meanwhile, those affected will continue waiting for their apartment, which might have been taken by a mischievous algorithm.