The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues an adverse opinion on the irregular handling of public funds by an auxiliary collector of the Municipality of Guayama. As a result, those collections were not carried out in accordance with the applicable law and regulations.
The Report reveals that an auxiliary collector took advantage of his position for his own benefit and failed to turn over to the official collectors, or to deposit into the Municipality's bank accounts, funds amounting to $5,706. Our auditors also identified that he took up to 145 days to deliver the collected funds to the official collectors.
An expert from the Institute of Forensic Sciences examined the manual collection receipts that the auxiliary collector did not record in the System and concluded that: they were altered in some of their parts and that the aforementioned Auxiliary Collector is the author of the word VOID and of other notations made on the receipts.
These situations were referred to the Secretary of Justice on November 30, 2016 and to the Executive Director of the Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico on December 1, 2016, for the corresponding actions.
In addition to depriving the Municipality of funds through these actions, the offenses of falsification of documents, alteration or mutilation of property, dereliction of duty, and embezzlement of funds could have been committed.
See Audit Report M-17-26
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