The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Ponce related to purchases and disbursements. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances individually or together are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals favoritism on the part of the Municipality's buyer toward a particular provider. From 2009 to 2012, 524 purchase orders were placed for $517,107 in favor of a provider of furniture and household appliances.
Our auditors detected in the quotes of seven providers that were not favored that, in another color of ink, the acronym C.O.D ("Cash on Delivery") had been written on the original document in phrases such as: C.O.D. payment required, Cash C.O.D. Payment, or Requires C.O.D. Payment. A document examiner (expert) from the Institute of Forensic Sciences concluded that the buyer was the author of the examined quotes.
This situation was referred to the Secretary of Justice and to the executive director of the Office of Government Ethics on May 18. In this regard, the crimes of undue interference in government operations and perjury, classified in Act 149-2004 of the Penal Code of Puerto Rico, as amended, and in Act 1-2012 of the Government Ethics Act, could have been configured.
The one-finding audit notes that the quotes were supplied by the same citizens who came to request aid from the Department of Citizen Services. The technicians who received the citizens indicated that the quotes received did not have the C.O.D. acronym added, and the interviewed providers indicated that they did not write the acronym since they were always willing to offer credit to the Municipality.
Contrary to Act 81-1991 on Autonomous Municipalities, the quotes submitted by the providers did not contain the name, title, or signature of the official or employee who received, accepted, and awarded them. In addition, the buyer performed conflicting functions such as signing purchase requisitions, evaluating the quotes, awarding the purchases, and receiving and delivering the payment checks.
This Report covers the period from January 12, 2009 to June 30, 2014, and is the sixth and last report of the audits carried out on the Municipality of Ponce.
See Audit Report M-19-09.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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