DOMINICAN REPUBLIC



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Accounts Chamber

Table of Attributes	Table of Contents

Table of Attributes

Independence

Legal basis

See also - as in Accounts Law

Mode of appointment and qualifications

Jurisdiction

See also - General provisions

Reporting procedure

Others - Accounting of public funds

See also - Inspection of accounts

Powers

Requisitioning records

Punitive Action

Others - General provisions

Powers – Administrative

Others - Inspection of accounts

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION

Article 78.- There shall be a permanent Accounts Chamber consisting of at least five members elected by the Senate from the lists of three names each presented to it by the Executive Power.

Paragraph.- The Accounts Chamber’s functions shall basically be of a technical nature.

2) To present the report on the accounts of the previous year to the Congress in the first ordinary session of the legislature each year.

Article 80.- The members of the Accounts Chamber shall hold office for a term of 4 years.

Article 81.-In order to become a member of the Accounts Chamber, a person must be a Dominican citizen in full exercise of his civil and political rights, he should have completed 25 years of age and have a doctorate or masters in Law, a masters in Finance, or be a certified Public Accountant. The law shall stipulate the rest of the conditions to be met in order to become a member of the said body.

Article 23 point 3).- The Senate shall have the exclusive power to elect the members of the Accounts Chamber.

ACCOUNTS LAW

Article 1.- (Modified by Law No. 54 of 13th November 1970, G.O. No. 9205). The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (directly under the authority of the Executive Power pursuant to the provisions of Art. 1 of the above mentioned Law 54), shall be headed by an officer who shall be called the Comptroller General of the Republic. There shall also be a Deputy Comptroller General. The Office of the Comptroller General will be responsible for maintaining the general accounts of the State, auditing the income and expenditure of the funds belonging to different departments of Public Administration, whether autonomous or not, the State and municipalities, checking the examination of accounts to be rendered by persons or entities receiving or handling funds or assets belonging to such entities or bodies, as well inspecting the accounts of the concerned offices.

Article 2.- The Comptroller General of the Republic (new designation given by Law No. 54 of 13th November 1970) shall perform all the duties and shall exercise all the rights inherent to General Accounting, and be involved in the review and settlement of accounts. He shall also assume all the powers and duties conferred on him by the laws, decrees or rules.

Article 3.-The Deputy Comptroller General shall be responsible for the work assigned to him by the Comptroller General, and in case of the latter’s absence or legal impediment, he shall perform, with full right, the functions of the head of the Office.

Article 4.- The Comptroller General shall prescribe the forms, systems and procedures to be followed in administrative accounting for all the government departments and offices, municipalities and other similar bodies handling public funds or national assets.

Article 5.- The Comptroller General can summon or call a meeting of accountants from government departments or offices, and Treasurers from the Town Councils, as well as their subordinates, for purposes of co-ordinating his activities in respect of the accounting procedures recommended by his office.

Article 6.- The Office of the Comptroller General shall maintain the budget accounts and the property accounts of the Republic. Budget accounts shall be understood as those that are necessary to control the inflows and use of all the funds, appropriations and allocations; and property accounts are those concerning assets, obligations and investments that increase or decrease the assets belonging to the Nation.

Article 7.- At the end of every financial year, the Comptroller General shall issue an order to deposit those sums of money represented by official cheques issued by the National Treasury or by a Special Pay Order from any Government department or office, provided such cheques have not been delivered or paid up for a period of two or more financial years. As soon as it receives this order, the National Treasury shall credit the above mentioned amounts to an account called "Two years unpaid cheques reserve".

Article 8.- It will be the duty of the Comptroller General, at the end of each financial year, to prepare a detailed list of the balance leftover from annual allocations of special funds that have appeared in the books for more than one year beyond the year for which they were allocated, after receiving prior clearance from the Executive Power for each one of these allocations, it shall issue a destination order.

Paragraph I: The above provisions do not apply to appropriations or such sums of money that were not specifically limited by law to any particular financial year, which shall remain open in the books until the expenditures for which they were allocated have been met.

Paragraph II: As regards the General Funds, the balance sheets of the amounts allocated in the course of the year shall remain open, until settlement in the books of the departments and the Office of the Comptroller General, for a period not exceeding three months starting from the last day of the financial year. Once this period is over the books will be closed and these sums shall then form part of the financial surplus.

Article 9.- Whenever required on a case-to-case basis, the Comptroller General shall issue the following documents:

Article 10.- The Comptroller General shall provide the Director of the Budget any financial and accounts information requested by him.

Article 11.- Whenever an account appearing in the books of the Republic is finally considered to be uncollectible, the Comptroller General shall order it to be written off from the books.

Article 12.- It is the duty of the Comptroller General to receive, examine, and if everything is in order, to approve the monetary accounts of the Government, municipalities and other existing national or local bodies that have been created by law.

Article 13.- It is also the duty of the Comptroller General to examine, and if he is satisfied, to certify that the Secretary of State for Finance should clear each one of the applications before the National Treasury for advance payment of funds, by a duly authorised Payer.

Paragraph I: If the officer applying for an advance payment of funds has delayed in submitting his accounts, the Comptroller General may reject such application. Rejection can also be due to other reasons arising from the statement of accounts of the officer for whom the advance is being applied for, regardless of the fact that such application may, in either of the two cases, have been submitted in the correct manner and in keeping with the law.

Paragraph II: Similarly, the said officer can return the application with his rejection endorsed on the same to the Secretary of State for Finance, such rejection being understood to be valid until the necessary requirements are met or an official clearance is received from the Executive Power.

Article 14.-The Comptroller General shall give due consideration to the proofs that, according to the rules approved by the Executive Power, have been prescribed as requirements to pay off any account, and for this purpose he can make the relevant inquiries in different departments, government or private offices, and is also empowered to summon and hear witnesses.

Article 15.- Within the first 15 days of each month all the public, national or municipal offices empowered to collect, deposit or disburse public funds, must submit their accounts pertaining to the previous month to the Office of the Comptroller General. The general account of receipts of the National Treasury shall be submitted to the Comptroller General within 25 days of the month ending.

Article 16.- Except what is otherwise disposed by the law, all claims and payment demands, whatever be their nature, shall be settled and paid off by the National Treasury after receiving clearance from the Comptroller General. However, when such a claim or demand is the outcome of a crime or quasi civil crime or penal crime, even if the claim is against the State or was initiated by it, the Comptroller General shall not clear such claim or demand except with the prior authorisation of the Executive Power.

Article 17.- No direct payment to State creditors, nor delivery of funds to agents of the Administration, shall be made unless there is a written order from the authorised officer, which is required to contain:

The Comptroller General may give his approval, after taking the necessary precautions on a case-to-case basis, to omissions of form or apparent mistakes that do not affect the total amount ordered to be paid nor its correct destination, as well as change in the name of the payee on a delivery order when the jurisdiction has legally passed over to another official body.

Article 18.- The payment or delivery orders, along with their supporting documents, shall be sent to the Comptroller’s Office for necessary processing. If everything is in order, they shall be recorded in its books and from there they shall be sent to the National Treasury that shall make the payment. One copy of these documents shall be returned to the Comptroller’s Office so that it may make the relevant entries after the payment has been made.

Article 19.- The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic may formulate an objection with regards to any payment or delivery order, for reasons and in the manner and form established by this law. The objection will result in withholding execution of the order, either in its entirety or in respect of the part objected to, and reverts to the Secretariat from where the order came.

Payment orders or delivery orders will not be carried out for any of the following reasons:

Article 20.- In cases of authorisations for advance payments of funds, these shall not be certified by the Comptroller General, nor shall they be approved by the Secretary of State for Finance, if they exceed the balance available that was allocated for such purpose.

Article 21.- All those offices that have been made advance payments from suspense funds, shall deposit them in bank accounts and shall make payments by cheque to the order of the interested parties, the only exceptions being those payments that by their nature can not be made in this manner.

Article 22.- The Comptroller General may, when he considers it appropriate, depute any of the employees from his department to inspect the office of any government officer who is responsible for public funds, public property or who receives or handles the same, and for this purpose, the Comptroller’s representative shall have access to the books, files, cheque books, bank accounts and other documents pertaining to the department of the officer in question. At the end of each inspection, the Comptroller General shall sent a report on the inspection to the Head of the Department of government office where, or at the orders of whom, such officer of responsibility is in service, and shall send a copy of this report to the Executive Power.

Article 23.- When required in the larger financial interests, the Comptroller General, either by himself or through his duly authorised subordinates and employees, may audit the accounts of any private person or entity and, consequently, may demand that they furnish all the information regarding their financial activities and transactions. The order to conduct such audit shall be issued in writing, with a copy to the Executive Power, and its implementation shall be governed by the regulations framed for this purpose by the Executive Power.

Article 24.- The Accounts Chamber of the Republic, besides its constitutional duty of examining the Government accounts must, either on its own or through a member deputed for this purpose, as often as it considers necessary but not less than once a month, inspect and check the accuracy and legality of the Comptroller General’s accounts in the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic. For this purpose, it shall have free access to all the accounts after these have been approved by the Comptroller General; and in case the action of this officer, in any of these settlements, is not satisfactory in the opinion of the Accounts Chamber, it shall submit a report on the matter to the National Congress and to the President of the Republic.

Article 25.- The jurisdiction of the Comptroller General as regards the adjustment of accounts and claims shall be exclusive, and the balance sheets certified by him from time to time for purposes of adjusting the accounts or public claims shall be deemed definite and final, for the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers, as well as for any person whose account or claim has been adjusted by the Comptroller General. However, any person whose accounts have been adjusted, or the head of the Administrative Department or of the government establishment to whom the account or adjustment pertains, can, within a period of ninety days following the date of adjustment made by the Comptroller General, appeal against his decision to the Accounts Chamber. The decision of the Accounts Chamber on the appeal shall be definite and conclusive for all the interested parties, but any person who accepts payments, after the adjustment made by the Comptroller General, shall be ipso facto disallowed from making such an appeal to the Accounts Chamber, in respect of the entry against which the payment was accepted.

Article 26.- The Payers and the Heads of the government departments can request a decision from the Comptroller General on any matter involving a payment to be made by them, or at their order; the Comptroller General shall be governed by this decision, once it has been issued, in examining and deciding the account in which the said disbursement figures.

Article 27.- All contracts requiring an expenditure of public funds must be recorded in the books kept for this purpose in the Office of the Comptroller General. These contracts may be registered only after first verifying that there is enough balance available under the relevant head so as to cover the commitment being entered into. If sufficient allocation is not available, the Comptroller General of the Republic shall return the contract sent to him for registration to the office it came from, and the said contract can not be executed until such time that funds are not available to cover the commitments.

Article 28.- The Comptroller General shall inform the President of the Republic about any expenditure or contract made by any department or agency in violation of the legal provisions. Any government officer or employee who knowingly takes part in such irregularity shall personally be responsible for all the incorrectly used or misappropriated funds resulting therefrom. Nothing stated in this article shall be interpreted to mean that the said government officer or employee is exempted from being tried for any infraction of penal laws arising from such violation nor that any person will be exempted, whether in government employ or not, from any civil or penal responsibility that might be fixed on him for the mentioned reason.

Article 29.- The Executive Power, at the proposal of the Accounts Chamber, shall frame the rules that it considers relevant for hearings before the said Chamber on the appeals against any decision of the Comptroller General filed in accordance with the above mentioned provisions. In these appeals, the matter will be heard again and the Accounts Chamber shall have the power to summon and examine witnesses, to take statements in respect of the case and to take a decision on matters of its competence. Its decision, in such cases, shall be final and conclusive for all the parties involved.

Article 30.- The Accounts Chamber shall give written decisions on all the appeals heard, and shall provide copies of the same to the Comptroller General and the Secretary of State for Finance.

Article 31.- This Law revokes Law No. 1114 of 3rd May 1929 and its amendments, and modifies any other law that is in conflict with its provisions.

LAW ON THE ACCOUNTS CHAMBER OF THE REPUBLIC

Article 1.- Besides the powers vested in the Accounts Chamber by virtue of the Constitution, this body, in tax matters, shall have the consultative supervisory and jurisdictional functions laid down in this law.

Article 2.- The Accounts Chamber is responsible for taking cognisance of, reviewing and clearing all the general and specific accounts of the State, the District of Santo Domingo, the Town Councils of the Districts, public establishments and institutions receiving subsidies from the earlier mentioned bodies.

Article 3.- Within the first fifteen days of each month, all public offices, whether national or local, whether collectors, depositories or payers of public funds, must submit statements on the operations corresponding to the earlier month to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Article 4.- After these accounts have been examined and passed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, he shall present them with the appropriate observations to the Accounts Chamber, which shall proceed to a final review.

Paragraph I.- In case on examining accounts, the Comptroller and Auditor General finds evidence of irregularities, errors, inaccuracies or any other defect that would not allow him to give his approval, he shall be obliged to return the accounts to the concerned office so that it may provide an explanation. These explanations will be submitted along with the accounts to the Accounts Chamber for its decision.

When the defect discovered in the accounts is the outcome of an irregularity or problem in the accounting system, the Comptroller and Auditor General shall prescribe appropriate systems, in accordance with the provisions laid down in Section 7 of the Accounts Law. Nevertheless, the Chamber must be informed about the action taken.

Paragraph II.- The National Treasury shall be obliged to send, on a daily basis, a statement of income classified according to where the receipts have come from, and expenditure, and the daily balance in the Treasury, to the Accounts Chamber.

Paragraph III.- The Comptroller and Auditor General is obliged to submit the balance sheets on the general accounts of the State every month to the Accounts Chamber.

Article 5.- While conducting the audit, the Accounts Chamber shall be empowered to investigate and check the accuracy and legality of the accounts maintained by the concerned office, and for that purpose it may be represented by one or several members who shall have free access to the books, files and accounts.

In the event that the irregularity comes to the notice of the Comptroller and Auditor in the course of inspection, and the officer concerned does not provide the relevant justification, the Accounts Chamber must immediately inform the President of the Republic about the matter.

Article 6.- The Accounts Chamber shall exercise control over the work being done by the Comptroller and Auditor General in accordance with the provisions of the Accounts Law.

When, while using this power, the Accounts Chamber has doubts regarding the accuracy and legality of an account or doubts on the regularity of the Auditor’s work, it can take whatever steps are required in any public office to throw light on the truth. These steps may include site visits, inspections, interrogation of any person whose testimony could be useful in clarifying the public accounts, inventories, tallying of funds and other similar steps.

Article 7.- In cases where funds have disappeared or simply have not been collected, or in case of theft, turpitude, scheming, embezzlement, pilferage, concealment, fraud, or any irregularities in the accounts presented for examination, the Accounts Chamber, regardless of the nature of the fact, shall immediately inform the Secretary of State of the Treasury and Public Credit, or the President of the Republic directly if the responsibility falls on a senior officer, attaching all the appropriate documents.

Article 8.- When the irregularities in the balance sheets are purely technicalities, the Accounts Chamber shall return them to the office they came from for correction.

Article 9.- It shall be the duty of the Accounts Chamber to see to it that all the legal provisions establishing a joint system of guarantees or fidelity in order to safeguard State institutions and other public institutions against theft and embezzlement of public funds are complied with, as also to see that sureties or other guarantees stipulated in the administrative contracts are actually furnished, for which purpose a certified copy of all contracts of this type, whether national, municipal or from the District of Santo Domingo, must be deposited with the Accounts Chamber within thirty days of their signing by the person authorised to do so on behalf of these institutions.

Article 10.- The general report on the movement of income and expenditure taking place in a year, that the Accounts Chamber must submit to the National Congress, shall consist of a first part in which an explanatory background of the operations will be given, along with the opinion of the said body, and a second part in which the balance sheets and statements supporting these operations is furnished.

Article 11.- The Accounts Chamber shall be responsible for the application of Article 92 of the Constitution and, consequently, every year in the month of April it shall publish the report presented to the Congress on the general account of income and expenditure of the Republic pertaining to the previous year.

Article 12.- The Accounts Chamber must see to it that the Register of State Assets, assets of the District of Santo Domingo, municipalities and other public institutions is kept up-to-date. In case of omissions or irregularities in these Registers, the Accounts Chamber shall report to the Secretary of the Treasury and Public Credit, so that he may order the necessary investigation, and the responsibilities arising therefrom may be fixed.

Article 13.- In case of auctions or bidding for services to be provided to the public, the nation, the Administrative District of Santo Domingo or municipalities, the Accounts Chamber shall be empowered to attend by sending some of its Members as representatives to the relevant gatherings in order to protect public interests in the fixing of prices and other conditions.

Article 14.- The Accounts Chamber must inform the Secretary of State of the Treasury and Public Credit or the President of the Republic directly, when responsibility might be attributed to a senior civil servant, about all the facts that could endanger the interests of the State, the Administrative Council of the District of Santo Domingo, the local governments and other public institutions, in respect of their assets.

Article 15.- The Accounts Chamber must be represented by its Presiding Officer or by Members deputed for the purpose, at any operation, when such operation is carried out in the country, concerning the printing and counting of any type of currency or tenders representing money value, as well as at all acts involving the incineration, destruction or devaluation of any type of currency or documents representing money. They must either endorse the acts in question or report any irregularities that might have taken place.

(Articles 16 to 23 were revoked by Article 59 of the Law of 1494 of 2nd August 1974.)

Article 24.- The Accounts Chamber must offer an opinion on financial questions whenever the Senate, House of Deputies and the President of the Republic ask for an opinion. These opinions must not deal with any accounts matter pertaining to an audit being conducted at that time by the Accounts Chamber, but may deal with abstract and general questions that are not related to any specific person or public office.

These reports must directly be submitted to the requesting body or to the President of the Republic, as the case may be.

Article 25.- The Accounts Chamber shall be permanently based in the City of Trujillo, but it can be set up temporarily in any other place in the Republic.

Article 26.- Within the first five days following the 16th of August every year, the Accounts Chamber shall elect a President, a Vice-President, and a Secretary from among its own members, who will hold office for one year.

Article 27.-The Accounts Chamber will have one Assistant Secretary General and additional staff as assigned to it by the Public Expenditure Law, to be appointed by the Chamber itself.

Article 28.- Besides the powers conferred on it by this Law, the Accounts Chamber shall have all the powers envisaged in the Accounts Law and in other laws.

Article 29.- The Accounts Chamber can not take any decision unless the President or the Vice-President is present, along with such number of members that together with the President and Vice-President form more than fifty per cent of the members of the Chamber. All decisions, except the case indicated in Article 23, shall be taken by a majority of votes, and in case of a tie, the President shall have the casting vote.

Article 30.- No two persons who are relatives or related between themselves in a direct line to any degree, or in a collateral line up to the second degree inclusive, can be members of the Accounts Chamber.

Article 31.- Neither can persons having businesses, establishments or firms of any type engaged in operations with the State, the District of Santo Domingo or any other public establishment, whether State or municipal, become members of the Accounts Chamber.

Article 32.- Members of the Accounts Chamber can not be involved, at the risk of recusation, in any dealing or matter involving persons who are blood relations or other relation in a collateral line up to the second degree inclusive.

Article 33.- Members of the Accounts Chamber shall not be held responsible for cases filed and accusations made in the performance of the Chamber’s duties.

Article 34.- The Accounts Chamber may regulate everything with regard to its internal functioning without any conditions except the laws framed by the Congress.

Article 35.-The dealings of the Accounts Chamber with the Executive Power shall be conducted through the Secretary of State for the Treasury and Public Credit, without entailing any dependence on the said officer. But in the performance of its audit duties, the Accounts Chamber may get in touch directly with any national or municipal body.

Article 36.-The members of the Accounts Chamber shall be accountable to the National Congress for their conduct and the performance of their duties, in accordance with the Constitution. In case of being found guilty of crime or offence, they shall be tried by the ordinary courts, without any need of letters rogatory, or prior dismissal or suspension.

Article 37.- The post of member of the Accounts Chamber is in conflict with any other remunerated public position or any position involving the handling or accounting of public funds.

Article 38.- In all public functions the members of the Accounts Chamber shall be afforded the same treatment by protocol as that afforded to members of the National Congress.

Article 39.- This Law revokes Law No. 3659 of 27th June 1896, Law No. 950 of 1928, and modified, to the extent required, the Law on Customs and Ports pertaining to the Higher Council of Customs and that part of the Law on Urban Property Tax that considers the decisions of the Board of Fee Revision to be final, and any other legal stipulation that might be in conflict with this Law.

Matters pending before the Higher Council of Customs shall be transferred to the Accounts Chamber for a final decision.