The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations related to the contracting of mechanical services and some purchases and disbursements of the Municipality of Arecibo. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the offenses of fraud, falsification of documents, and improper intervention in governmental operations typified in the Penal Code may have been configured, in two contracts formalized with a company to render preventive maintenance services for eight garbage trucks. The testimonial evidence indicates that to obtain the first contract, the owner of company A presented false proposals in the name of company B and company C. The contract was formalized with company A, which as of July 2015 had collected $406,788. This situation was referred on March 14 to the Secretary of Justice for the corresponding action.
The Municipality's Transportation and Equipment manager declared under oath to our auditors that he could not identify the trucks that received the maintenance services, even though he had certified the work performed, according to the invoices. In addition, the fleet maintenance employees continued offering part of the services despite the contracting of a private company.
The three-finding audit notes that there was collusion of suppliers in the contracting of sound services to celebrate the World Youth Camp in Arecibo. The process to obtain the quotations was irregular since one of the quotations turned out to be false and the prices were not set independently as required by the regulation. The owners of the three companies that bid know each other, and these were subcontracted by the owner of the company that obtained the awarding of the sound service. This situation had been referred on February 27, 2017, to the Secretary of Justice for the corresponding action.
The Municipality of Arecibo formalized a contract for $76,800 for the maintenance of heavy vehicles on July 3, 2015. Contrary to law, in January 2016, it disbursed $38,400 to this contractor, even though the Municipality had not submitted a copy of the contract to the Office of the Comptroller.
The Report covers the period from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015
See Audit Report M-18-32.
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