The current administration of the Chamber of Accounts will end its four-year term in April as one of the least productive in the history of that organization in audits to public institutions.
The differences between its members and the mistrust and cancellation of the work carried out by the previous administration slowed down the productivity of the entity created to examine the State accounts.
This Plenary, composed of five members and chaired by Janel Andrés RamÃrez Sánchezbegan by dismissing the reports of 13 audits practiced in the previous four-year period due to distrust of its legitimacy. They reported irregularities in the management of large public funds.
In the session of December 9, 2022, the member of the organization Mario Arturo Fernández predicted a “pyrrhic result” for the current administration.
“This Chamber of Accounts will not have a single audit corresponding to the Annual Plan for this year, for which reason, allow me to congratulate ourselves,” he criticized.
Later, the five new members voted to carry out some 108 audits and special investigations, of which the Plenary Session has already approved the reports of 31, but few of them have reached their final publication phase. Some 78 are in the “audit process.”
Only ten
Almost reaching the end of her term, the Chamber of Accounts reported to Free Diary that has ended alone 10 audits and special investigations, which is equivalent to 2.5 audits per year.
On the other hand, the entity reported in its reports to the National Congress that, between 2021 and 2023, it had published 41 auditsincluding those initiated by their predecessors.
In addition, they carry six reports approved in 2020 by the previous Plenary Session that are still “pending notification to the entities and publication on the website.”
The number of reports audits approvals plummeted in this administration. From 2017 to 2020, they approved an average of 44.25 reports each year. Between 2021 and 2023, the average dropped to 11 per year.
Bottleneck
He president of the Chamber of Accounts has been opposed from the beginning, as recorded in the minutes, to approving investigations that are not subject to a quality process by a different team than the one that carried out the uprising, something they have not yet achieved.
This situation has caused a bottleneck.
Rejected
In the session held on December 14, 2021, the opposing votes of Mario Arturo Fernández Burgos and Elsa MarÃa Catano RamÃrez They prevented the approval of the report of the investigation carried out by the National Directorate of National Assets (DGBN) for the period 2012-2015.
Fernández Burgos argued that the environment in which the data and information contained therein were obtained and processed did not deserve credibility. “In previous administrations this body manifestly lacked reliability and transparency in its operations,” he wrote in his reasoned dissenting vote.
For the same reasons, he voted against Elsa Peña Peña. The president abstained.
Elsa MarÃa Catano RamÃrez criticized the archiving of these investigations given the seriousness of the findings and said that it constitutes “irresponsibility to decide to archive these results.”
“When we all apply for the Chamber of Accounts We knew the situation that this entity presented. Far from seeing it as a problem, I always saw it as an opportunity to do the right thing, to strengthen transparency, to present the results, which is the right of citizens to know what the results are of the management of public funds,” express.
Among the irregularities detected were duplicate payments to personnel through different funds and for an amount of 1,951,350 pesos, differences between the budget execution statements and the physical and digital payroll files amounting to 5,048,435 pesos and 513,344 pesos.
In addition, payment of salary 13 to personnel that does not correspond for a value of 3,378,164, void checks considered as expenses in the budget execution statements for 587,728 and payment files without supporting invoices amounting to 2,461,657 pesos.
Although it was proposed to do it again, the audit of National Assets was not carried out again.
Differences in the UASD
Two members refused to support the investigation carried out at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) between 2014 and 2017 (Iván Grullón management), despite which it was approved.
Mario Arturo Fernández stated that they should not “approve any report that is not verified by a new team of competent auditors different from the one that carried it out.” He stated that the findings did not deserve credibility.
This investigation had detected income tax withholdings not paid to the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) worth 4,115,156,987 pesos until 2017, as stated by MarÃa Catano RamÃrez, the vice president.
In the session of December 14, 2021, the opposing votes of Mario Arturo Fernández Burgos and Elsa MarÃa Catano RamÃrez prevented the approval of the investigation report carried out by the National Directorate of National Assets (DGBN), period 2012-2015. Fernández Burgos argued that the environment in which the data were obtained and processed did not deserve credibility. Elsa MarÃa Catano RamÃrez criticized the decision given the seriousness of the findings. Among the irregularities detected were duplicate payments to personnel for 1,951,350 pesos, differences between budget execution states for 5,048,435 pesos, payment of salary 13 to non-corresponding personnel for 3,378,164 and payments without invoices for 2,461,657, among others.
