translated from Spanish: Comptroller questions travel by mayors and councillors worth more than $100 million

Through its website, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic announced on Friday that during 2018 and 2019 it objected to a series of foreign travel slates of mayors, councillors and officials of various municipalities, amounting to $105,002,399. In most cases, travel, ticketing, reimbursement, incidentals or improper costs were questioned, as public officials travelled to China, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, among other places, without the activities being related to municipal work or contributed to improving their knowledge or skills. In total there are eight municipalities questioned: Hijuelas, Cauquenes, Cunco, Santo Domingo, Concepción, Quilicura, Maule and San Pedro de La Paz. In the case of Hijuelas, for example, Comptroller’s Office ensures that registrations, travel sprees and passages were paid for $22,296,510 for the participation of councillors and officials in an internship in Quito, Ecuador, without any communication between the addressed subjects and the roles of those who participated. For its part, it was found that the Municipality of Quilicura paid $15,900,000 for the training “Meeting between officials of Chile and Cuba, education, health, seniors and popular power systems”, carried out in Havana and Varadero, Cuba, without warning that this activity relates to the functions of those who were appointed, belonging to the administrative and auxiliary plant of the municipality, and not to the areas of health or education. Another case that draws attention is that of the Municipality of Cauquenes, which approved international training, but there was no basis for the need for these councillors to attend, or the reasons why they were elected. Nor was it clear how their participation would have increased their knowledge and skills for the good performance of their positions in management-related matters. In this case the Comptroller objected to $22,249,517. While municipalities may respond to the Comptroller’s audit, the funds questioned must be returned within 30 or 60 days, depending on the case.

Original source in Spanish