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Article 113.- The State Comptroller General’s Office is an autonomous and technical body that controls the management of public resources, makes norms and is responsible for the countable consolidation of the said resources; it also exercises control over property assets of public sector entities, gives advice and formulates rules and regulations for objects stated in this article.
The superintendence of the Comptroller’s Office extends to private corporations receiving state grants, in matters relating to the proper utilization of these grants.
Article 116.- The term of appointment of the State’s Comptroller General is for four (04) years. The Constitution and the law will decide on matters relating to his dismissal and his replacement.
Article 59.- The Parliament assembles in a full meeting to consider, among other things, the following:
f) political indictment of the Comptroller General during the term of his appointment, a matter that can also be taken up during a period of one year after the expiry of his term.
j) Appointment of the Comptroller General.
SECTION HEADING VII
System of Control of Public Resources
Article 246.- Policies.- The Comptroller General will issue the policies of government auditing, constituting the general guidelines for audit work that has to be carried out.
Each entity and institution will establish its own policies of internal control in coordination with the Comptroller General’s Office.
Article 247.- Technical norms.- The Comptroller General will issue technical norms of internal control as fundamental provisions governing the internal control of public sector entities and institutions.
He will also issue the technical norms for government auditing that will determine specifically the nature and extent of the information that must be obtained by the government auditor, the quality of his work and the presentation and content of his report, as also the general requirements of the auditor.
Article 248.- Generally accepted norms of auditing.- The basic criteria for carrying out government auditing are set forth in the generally accepted norms of auditing, that the Comptroller General may consider as relevant and applicable to the subject.
Article 249.- Exclusive power of the Comptroller General’s Office.- The Comptroller General’s Office has the exclusive power to prescribe secondary norms for the auditing of public resources. All other norms relating to general or particular administrative systems will include necessary aspects relating to internal auditing and will be in keeping with the norms prescribed by the Comptroller General’s Office.
The Comptroller General’s office will have the exclusive authority to prescribe general or special norms for government auditing.
Article 250.- General manual.- The Comptroller will publish a general manual of government auditing which, in a single instrument, will provide the description of the requisites, techniques, methods and procedures to be applied in the government auditing.
Article 251.- Specialized manuals.- The Comptroller General will approve and publish specialized manuals for carrying out government auditing of public sector entities and institutions, that may have similar activities and characteristics.
Article 252.- Description.- The internal control of a body or entity will comprise the organization plan and the whole range of measures adopted to safeguard its resources, verify the exactness and veracity of its financial, technical and administrative information, promote efficacy in operations, encourage the observance of prescribed policies and achieve the set goals and objectives.
Article 253.- Own internal control.- For each public sector entity and institution, it is obligatory to work out its own methods and procedures of internal control.
Article 254.- Content.- The internal control will comprise:
1. An organization plan that envisages a proper division of functions;
2. Authorization and registry methods and procedures that enable the financial and administrative control of resources, obligations, income, expenditure and patrimony, as well as of public work projects.
3. Sound methods for the compliance of the duties and functions of each unit and staff member;
4. Appointment of such suitable staff as may facilitate the compliance of its powers and duties;
5. An internal audit unit.
Article 255.- Integration of operations.- The methods and procedures of internal control will be implanted and integrated within the procedures of administrative operation of the respective entity and institution and will be incorporated in the corresponding norms and manuals dealing with organization, functions and procedures. The prior and concurrent internal control will be maintained by the staff members responsible for the normal transaction of operations, without there being any need to create special units for this purpose.
The internal audit unit will be exclusively responsible to the highest authority of the entity or institution, for the subsequent internal control.
Article 256.- Examination and evaluation.- The Comptroller General’s Office, upon carrying out its functions of external control, may examine and evaluate the internal control of the entities and institutions, and will make specific recommendations deemed necessary to improve internal control.
SECTION 1
Generalities
Article 257.- Governmental auditing.- Governmental auditing consists of an objective, systematic and professional inspection of the financial or administrative operations, or of both at the same time, carried out after their execution, with the object of checking these operations, evaluating them and preparing the corresponding report containing remarks, conclusions and recommendations and, in the case of an examination of financial statements, the corresponding professional opinion.
Article 258.- Activities included.- Governmental auditing includes the following measures:
1. Verification of transactions, registers, reports and financial statements corresponding to the period under review;
2. Determining the extent of compliance of legal and statutory provisions, policies and other applicable norms;
3. Review and evaluation of the financial internal control;
4. Examination and evaluation of planning, organization, management and internal administrative control;
5. Review and evaluation of the efficiency, effectiveness and economy with which human resources, material and financial, have been utilized;
6. Review and evaluation of the results of the operations scheduled, with the object of determining whether the set goals have been achieved;
Article 259.- Purpose.- The purpose is to establish a unified mechanism of internal and external auditing, based on the norms of governmental auditing, in order to ensure an effective subsequent audit of the financial and administrative operations of each public sector entity and institution, for the following purposes:
1. Improve public administration through the introduction of recommendations made by the audit;
2. Ensure ethics in public administration, by means of an efficient subsequent audit;
3. Verify the trustworthiness, appropriateness and relevance of financial and administrative information;
4. Reveal the irregularities, errors, deviations or deficiencies of the governmental operations and correct them;
5. Verify that public human resources, material and financial, have been duly audited and utilized in programmes, activities and purposes for which resources were made available and that their utilization was efficient, effective and economical;
6. Check the compliance of legal provisions regarding financial and administrative management;
7. Determine if all revenue and income resulting from public operations have been properly assessed, collected and accounted for; and
8. Evaluate the internal control systems and make recommendations to improve them;
Article 260.- Executing Staff.- The governmental auditing work will be done by public accountants, possessing a University degree or its equivalent, and by professionals of other disciplines who, in either of the two cases, must fulfil other requirements as established by the National Personnel Office, in consultation with the Comptroller General’s Office.
Article 261.- Oath of confidentiality and ethics.- The governmental audit staff, upon assuming office, will take the oath of maintaining secrecy, confidentiality and professional ethics.
The observance of the Code of Professional Ethics by the Government’s Auditor, issued by the Comptroller General, will be compulsory for all personnel of the governmental audit in the Comptroller’s Office, for the staff of internal audit units and that of private firms contracted to do the needful.
Article 262.- Kinds of audit.- The governmental auditing is called internal when it is done by specific administrative units of public sector entities and institutions, and external when it is carried out by the Comptroller General’s Office by means of its own administrative units or by contracting private firms to do it; from another point of view, governmental auditing is financial or operational. In both the cases, audit work must be carried out by a single team of professionals, whose responsibility it is to prepare one single report, in accordance with specific procedures, techniques and methods.
The use of the words "auditing" and "auditor" will be limited to the inspections carried out by the units mentioned in the foregoing paragraph.
Article 263.- Operational auditing.- Operational auditing comprises: 1) the inspection and evaluation that are carried out in an entity or institution to determine the extent of efficiency, effectiveness and economy of its planning, organization, management, internal audit and use of resources; 2) verify compliance of relevant provisions and make remarks, conclusions and recommendations aimed at improving the activities and matters investigated; it will direct its attention on selected activities and matters considered to be of crucial importance.
Article 264.- Financial auditing.- It consists of the inspection of registers, vouchers, documents and other evidence that substantiate the financial statements of an entity or institution, carried out by the auditor, in order to: 1) prepare the certificate regarding the reasonableness of the operational results, financial situation and changes recorded in it; 2) determine the compliance of the legal provisions and 3) make comments, conclusions and recommendations aimed at improving the procedures relating to financial management and internal control.
Article 265.- Special inspection.- It consists of the verification, evaluation and study of particular aspects or of a part of the administrative or financial transactions and operations, after these have been executed, applying the techniques and procedures of audit, engineering and of other similar or specific disciplines, in keeping with the matter to be reviewed, with the object of evaluating the compliance of policies, norms and programmes and of preparing the corresponding report that must include observations, conclusions and recommendations.
Article 266.- Selective review.- If from the evaluation of the internal control and the special examination of the transactions or operations, the government auditor manages to gather sufficient and pertinent evidence about the trustworthiness of the same, he has the discretion to restrict the examination to only a part of the transactions and operations.
SECTION 2
Internal Auditing
Article 267.- Internal auditing.- Internal auditing consists of the inspection after the financial or administrative operations of a public sector entity or institution, and is to be seen as a service rendered to the management; it is carried out by its own auditors constituting an administrative unit of internal auditing, with the objectives stated in the article 257) of this law. The functions and activities of these auditors must be separated completely from the activities and operations being inspected by them.
Article 268.- Organization.- The internal auditing unit will directly be under the highest authority and will be organized according to the needs, the resources that have to be administered and the volume and complexity of the transactions and operations of the respective entity or institution. For its creation, a prior report of the Comptroller General will be required.
Article 269.- Internal auditing unit.- A single unit of internal audit will be created, whose responsibility will be to carry out audit of all the operations, activities and programmes of the corresponding entity or institution and of all other affiliated or subsidiary entities or institutions, that do not have their own internal auditing unit.
Article 270.- Requisites.- The internal auditing unit will be organized in accordance with the relevant norms and will have a team of professional staff. The audits will be carried out in accordance with the generally accepted norms of auditing and the technical norms and policies of governmental auditing, issued by the Comptroller General.
Article 271.- Staff.- The internal auditing unit will be constituted with suitable staff, that must meet the same requirements of essential minimum qualifications as are laid down for the government auditing staff in the Comptroller General’s Office.
The internal audit staff will be appointed by the respective appointing authority and will be subject to periodic evaluation by the Comptroller General’s Office. As regards the entities and institutions relying on professional associations for their management, the appointment of the head of the internal auditing unit will be done by these professional associations.
No person with doubtful antecedents of professional ethics and integrity, or a person who has during the preceding five years held positions in the finance or accounts departments of the same body or institution, or has been penalized in his capacity as financial director or accountant for delay in the submission of financial reports to the Comptroller General’s Office or the Finance Ministry, can be appointed to hold office in a unit of internal audit within the next three years after the date on which his qualifications were evaluated for appointment to that office.
Article 272.- Internal audit manual.- Each internal auditing unit will prepare, publish and keep an updated manual of governmental auditing for the entity or institution, which would give a description in a nutshell of the characteristics and procedures of auditing specially applicable to the said body or institution, so that, without repeating the contents of the audit manuals published by the Comptroller General’s Office, they complement them by filling in all the specific details of their own respective entity or institution. The internal audit manuals will be approved by the Comptroller General’s Office so that they become legally applicable and their application will be subject to periodical evaluation. The units of internal audit, subject to the use of manuals referred to in articles 250) and 251), as a general rule, will not require any other manual.
Article 273.- Independence.- The unit of internal audit will enjoy the highest degree of independence. The audit staff’s function is evaluation and judgement, and it will not participate in the administrative, accounting or decision making processes within the entity or institution. Its participation in making physical inventories, appraisals, auctions and other similar activities will be restricted to observing these activities, without approving or signing the related documents; it must make its report separately.
In order to ensure independence, no staff member of the unit of the internal audit may be dismissed or transferred; nor can his salary be reduced, nor may the budget items of his charge be annulled, unless it is on account of duly demonstrated legal reasons, and with a prior report from the Comptroller General.
The internal auditors, whenever they consider it necessary, may communicate directly with the Comptroller General’s Office regarding any matter of substance that should be known to it.
Article 274.- Coordination of audit activities.- The internal audit units will submit their plan of work for the following fiscal year latest by the 30th of September of each year, to the Comptroller General’s Office, and will appraise it of any important change in this respect, in order to coordinate audit work and to avoid double inspections.
Article 275.- Evaluation of internal audit work.- The Comptroller General’s Office, upon carrying out the external audit, may proceed to make an evaluation of the internal audit units. For this purpose, during the period stipulated in article 224), the registers, official papers and copies of internal audit reports will be kept in readiness within the precincts of these units, and the auditors of the Comptroller General’s Office will have free access to them.
Article 276.- Reports.- The reports of internal audit and special inspections will be signed by the chief auditor of the unit and submitted to the authority responsible for his appointment.
Article 277.- Civil or administrative responsibility.- Whenever facts come to light that may fix responsibilities as mentioned in the article 340 as a result of the inspection carried out by the units of internal audit, these must be placed on record in the corresponding report, so that the highest authority in the office may apply such sanctions as are provided in the article 376) of this law.
Whenever facts come to light that may establish responsibilities as referred to in article 341) of this law, the chief auditor will inform the highest authority of the office and the Comptroller General’s Office, in writing, regarding the matter that has come to light, so that the Comptroller General’s office, through a special inspection, makes up its own mind about the matter and, in case the matter so warrants it, may establish relevant civil responsibilities.
Article 278.- Criminal acts.- Whenever as a result of audit or special inspections carried out by the staff of the internal audit unit, facts as referred to in article 257) of the Penal Code are brought to light, the following norms will be observed:
1. The Chief Auditor of the internal audit unit will bring this fact to the knowledge of the Comptroller General’s Office or his appointing authority, through any means, without prejudice to placing the matter on record immediately through a note to be prepared by him, and will take such measures as will lead to the person allegedly responsible being kept under police surveillance;
2. The note, to which reference is made in the foregoing paragraph, will be enough for the highest corresponding authority to file a case or to make a personal accusation against the person allegedly responsible, before the judge of a criminal court, who will begin proceedings by ordering the provisional detention of the accused and by taking all such necessary precautionary measures as are required to safeguard public interest.
3. The highest authority will immediately send to the Comptroller General a copy of action taken till that time, so that the Comptroller may examine the case papers and intervene in the proceedings as an interested party, if he deems it suitable; and
4. As to the rest, the judge of the criminal court will act according to whatever is stipulated in article 342) subsection number 4, and in article 343) of this law.
Article 279.- Intervention of another officer.- When there is no internal auditor, if acts referred to in the article 257 of the Penal Code come to light as a result of actions taken by an officer or an employee authorized to do so, the following procedure will be followed:
1. The officer who may have intervened in the action will immediately inform the Comptroller General’s Office or his appointing authority of this act, by any means of communication and under his personal responsibility, placing the matter on record by means of a note to be prepared by him immediately and informing the institution’s highest authority of the matter, who will send a copy of all action taken to the Comptroller General’s Office; and
2. The Comptroller General’s Office will carry out at the earliest a special inspection to determine liabilities, as the case may be.
SECTION 3
Auditing through Private Firms
Article 280.- Need to contract private firms.- Before initiating audit work as per part of the planned activity, or on a request made by the party, or in view of the urgent need of carrying out the external audit of a body or institution under its control, the Comptroller General will decide whether the job will be undertaken by the auditors of the Comptroller’s office, or whether a private professional firm will be engaged for the purpose, bearing in mind the nature and the object of the inspection, the availability of the auditors of the Comptroller’s Office, the possibility of the contract being financed and the real gains that may accrue.
Article 281.- Selection, eligibility and contracting.- If it is decided to contract a private firm to carry out the audit work of an entity or an institution under his control, the Comptroller General will order that the process of selection, determining eligibility and contracting as laid down by law and the regulations in force for this purpose, are adhered to.
Article 282.- Register of qualified firms.- In the Comptroller General’s Office, an updated register of firms eligible to be awarded the contracts will be maintained.
Article 283.- Requisites of the private firm.- In order to be registered, the private firm must fulfil the requirements as laid down in the regulations referred to in the article 281) of this law.
Article 284.- Staff of the firm.- The professional and auxiliary staff of the private firm that has been assigned the auditing job by the Comptroller General’s Office, must possess the minimum requirements as laid down in the technical norms of auditing, and must not in any way be connected with the functioning, activities, interests and the officers of the institution whose auditing is to be carried out.
Article 285.- Observance of norms.- The staff of the firm given the contract will be under an obligation to observe the legal provisions and the whole range of norms relating to government auditing. It will take special care to maintain its independence vis-à-vis the entity or institution subjected to its inspection, as also the entity or institution’s staff members.
Article 286.- Limitation of liability.- When during the course of auditing, the private firm comes across facts referred to in the article 257) of the Penal Code, or facts that may indicate civil or administrative liability, it will inform of the matter immediately and exclusively to the Comptroller General’s Office so that a special inspection may be carried out regarding the matter. The private firm will not be responsible for this special inspection, but it will collaborate in its work at the request of the comptroller General.
Article 287.- Supervision.- The audit work carried out by the firm given the contract will be continuously supervised by an auditor of the Comptroller General’s office, appointed for it specifically, whose responsibility will it be to ensure the technical quality of the inspection and the observance of the applicable norms. This officer will have access to the entire audit work undertaken, official papers or documents prepared or obtained by the private firm given the contract.
Article 288.- Report and acceptance.- The report of the private firm given the contract will be presented directly to the Comptroller General, signed by the authorized signatory. Upon it being accepted, the Comptroller will send it to the highest authority of the entity or institution whose auditing was done by the private firm and its concerned officers, stating that the Comptroller General is in agreement with the findings of the report.
The acceptance of the report means that, on the basis of the continuous supervision of the audit work, the Comptroller General’s Office has reached the same conclusions as the private firm and that it is in agreement with the findings of the audit inspection.
Section 4
Auditing by the Comptroller General’s Office
Article 290.- Planning.- The Comptroller General’s Office will prepare an annual plan for governmental auditing adapted to the needs of control, bearing in mind the following:
1. The financial and professional human resources that are available to it;
2. The extent of effectiveness of internal control introduced in the respective entities or institutions, including that of the internal audit units;
3. Areas or activities on a priority basis, specially new entities and institutions, substantial new programmes and changes in the existing ones;
4. Possibility of hiring services of private firms; and
5. Legal or contractual obligation of carrying out certain inspections.
Article 291.- Flexibility in the plan.- The annual audit plan will be flexible enough, enabling it to carry out unscheduled audit work and special inspections on account of some emergencies or urgent requests or important accusations or other similar reasons.
Article 292. – Execution of audit work.- Operational and financial audit work, that the Comptroller General’s Office has to undertake, will be executed as per the generally accepted auditing norms, and in conformity with the policies, technical norms, manuals and instructions issued by the Comptroller General that, depending on the kind of inspection and purpose of the same, may be applicable.
Article 293. Independence of the audit staff.- The staff belonging to the governmental audit in the Comptroller General’s Office, will maintain complete independence from the entities or institutions to be subjected to its control; and for that reason, he will not be able to carry out audit work in respect of entities or institutions in which he has rendered service, except when it was in the capacity of an internal auditor, during the preceding five years; neither will he be able to do it when the audit work involves activities undertaken by his blood relatives up to the fourth degree, or up to the second degree, in the case of relationship by marriage.
Article 294.- Testimony and presentation of documents.- The Comptroller General, the government auditors of the Comptroller General’s Office and the Comptroller’s nominees specially appointed for the purpose, are authorized to make the witnesses appear and demand sworn declarations in the proceedings falling within the purview of the Comptroller’s Office; they may also demand the presentation of documents.
The person refusing to appear as a witness or to give declarations or show documents, when so required by an officer authorized to do so under this law, will be compelled to do it through a suit for collection. The person who gives a false testimony or resorts to perjury in declarations given before an officer authorized to receive them as per the provisions of this law, will be liable – without any further requirement – to actions and penalties laid down by this law.
Article 295.- Reports.- The audit and special inspection reports prepared by the government auditors in the Comptroller General’s Office, once they are approved by the Comptroller, will be sent to the highest authority of the corresponding entity or institution and to the other officers concerned.
SECTION 5
Audit results
Article 296.- Communication.- During the course of an audit inspection or a special inspection, the government auditor will remain in constant touch with the staff members of the entity or institution concerned, giving them the opportunity to submit documentary evidence, as well as verbal information pertaining to the matters being reviewed. Without prejudice to the compliance of whatever is stipulated in the articles 78), 286) and 342) of this law, they will bring the provisional results of each part of the inspection to the knowledge of the officers concerned, as soon as they are finalized, with the following objects:
1. To give them the opportunity to present their points of view;
2. To ensure that the government auditors have at their disposal all available information and evidence, during the course of their work;
3. To avoid that additional information or evidence is presented after the completion of the audit work;
4. To facilitate the immediate commencement of necessary corrective measures to be undertaken by the head of the institution and by the officers concerned, including the introduction of improvements based on the recommendations, without waiting for the formal submission of the report;
5. To ensure that the conclusions drawn up on the basis of the inspection are final;
6. To facilitate the immediate restitution or recovery of any deficiency of financial or material resources during the course of the inspection; and
7. To identify the areas in which there is a concrete difference of opinion between the auditors and the officers of the institution, not amenable to any solution during the course of the audit work underway.
Article 297.- Discrepancies.- The differences of opinion, between the government auditors and the officers of the respective body or institution, will be resolved to the extent possible during the course of the audit work.
Article 298.- Professional verdict.- In the cases involving financial inspection, the audit report will include the professional verdict on the reasonableness of the financial statements and, moreover, a statement regarding their compliance or non-compliance with the corresponding legal and secondary provisions. The inspection reports not involving financial statements, will state this particular in clear terms.
Article 299.-Observations, conclusions and recommendations.- Each report will comprise, in addition to whatever is stipulated in the foregoing paragraph, the following:
1. Observations regarding the operations, activities and matters reviewed;
2. Conclusions in respect of operations, activities and matters reviewed, which will be the basis for determining liabilities, whenever there is an occasion for that, and for the formulation of corrective measures; and
3. Recommendations to improve the operations of the entity or institution in aspects relating to administrative, financial and internal control, depending on the kind of inspection undertaken.
Article 300.- Resultant corrective measures.- The corrective measures resulting from the audit work and special inspections carried out by the Comptroller General’s Office, by the private firms contracted for the purpose and by the internal audit units, are under the jurisdiction of the management of the concerned body or institution, without prejudice to the measures to be taken by the Comptroller’s Office, in case liabilities are to be determined as a result of the audit work undertaken.
Whenever it is necessary, the internal audit units or the Comptroller General’s Office, will offer consultancy in general terms regarding the implementation of the recommendations, but will not participate in the decision making process.
SECTION HEADING VIII
Supreme Control Agency
Article 301.- Jurisdiction.- The external control of public resources is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Comptroller General’s Office, the supreme control agency, in areas mentioned in article 243) of this law.
Article 302.- Independence and autonomy.- The Comptroller General’s Office which, in accordance with the Political Constitution and the provisions of this law, is autonomous in its functions, is not subject to the general laws that may in any manner affect or diminish its independence and autonomy.
Article 303.- Functions and powers.- The following are the functions and powers of the Comptroller General’s Office:
1. To carry out financial and operational auditing of the entities and institutions subject to its control, in accordance with the generally accepted audit norms;
2. To review and evaluate the quality of audit work done by the units of internal audit;
3. To exclusively assess, select and grant contracts to private firms for carrying out independent audit inspections in the entities and institutions subject to its control and supervise their work.
4. To carry out special inspections, applying audit techniques;
5. To exercise total or partial control, or conduct special inspections, in respect of the public works’ projects, utilizing necessary techniques to have control of each one of their phases;
6. To assess, select and grant contracts to private professional firms for the control of the projects of public works;
7. To undertake special inspections of tax or non-tax receipts of entities or institutions, specially for the following purposes:
a) to recommend improvements in the procedures related to the issue of credit instruments and the collection of receipts; and
b) to request, in case it establishes that there doesn’t exist any legal basis for the collection of certain receipts, that such collection be stopped.
8. To prescribe and update the regulations, policies, norms, manuals and instructions, in conformity with this law, with regard to the followings matters:
a) governmental auditing;
b) governmental accounting, including the consolidation of financial information;
c) internal control;
d) control of public works’ projects;
e) control of material and financial resources;
f) control of automatic processing of data systems;
g) control of contractual guarantees and securities for the discharge of duties pertaining to public offices; and
h) any other matter authorized by law.
9. To prescribe the form and content of the financial reports that have to be presented to the Finance Ministry, to the Comptroller General’s Office and to the Planning Commission as the case may be;
10. To provide technical consultancy to the entities and institutions, with regard to the introduction of systems and other matters under their jurisdiction, in accordance with this law;
11. To make norms, coordinate and provide technical training to the staff members of public sector entities and institutions, in matters falling within its jurisdiction;
12. To operate systems of governmental accounting and control of public resources;
13. To make recommendations for improving the operations and activities of the entities and institutions subject to its control;
14. To draw conclusions as a result of the inspections carried out, and prepare a report thereof, during the course of the inspections;
15. To enjoin the respective officers and employees to collect the liabilities in favour of public sector entities and institutions, and to discharge the liabilities corresponding to these entities and institutions.
16. To carry out special inspections with respect to the servicing of repayment and interests on public debt, with the object of demanding the fulfillment of the corresponding liabilities;
17. To determine individual administrative liabilities, on account of violation of statutory and legal provisions as well as of the norms of this law; civil liabilities, on account of pecuniary loss suffered by the respective entity or institution due to the actions of omission or commission of their staff members, and suspicions of criminal liability through detection of facts considered criminal under law. In order to exercise this power and that granted by the subsection number 18) of this article, the Comptroller General will issue the corresponding order;
18. To declare the person principally responsible and to order immediate return of any financial resource unduly reimbursed, to juridical persons or to natural persons, who may have received the payment, and to declare responsible for it, subsidiary to the same, the staff member who, by an act of omission or commission, may have caused this to happen.
All such financial resources transferred from a body or an institution of the public sector favouring judicial persons of the private sector or natural persons, as payment or under any other pretext, when such a transfer didn’t have legal or contractual basis for it to be given effect or to be of a particular amount or be in the name of a particular person, will be considered as unlawful payment in such circumstances as when the transfer has actually taken place, as also when payment is made erroneously or is made to a person other than the creditor.
If the obligor or the responsible party is a creditor on some other account, the Comptroller General will order the payment by means of balancing or confusion of credits; if the obligor or the responsible party is a staff member of an entity or institution, the balancing can be done by withholding his salary. Likewise, he will ask for the accountable entries of the case.
When the subsidiary responsible party or obligor makes the reimbursement through the principal, it will be subrogated in the fees of the creditor entity or institution and the payment may be repeated against the principal through execution. For this purpose, the certified copy of the official communication of the Comptroller General in which he orders the reimbursement and the respective payment voucher will constitute the document proving the party’s right of execution. The corresponding liability will also be treated as executive.
19. To order to proceed by means of summary jurisdiction against the officers or employees, against their assets or against their sureties, when the credits in favour of the entities or institutions referred to in this law, are a consequence of differences of money or other assets in the charge of these officers or employees;
20. Inform, by means of a written report, the highest authority of public sector entities or institutions, about the expenditure incurred or about the use of public properties, when the said expenditure or use is illegal;
21. Intervene as a party, whenever it deems it proper, in criminal or civil cases or administrative disputes arising from the offences or irregularities in the collection, deposits, custody, administration or disbursement of financial and material resources of the entities and institutions subject to this law and to initiate proceedings in the said cases in accordance with the articles 342) and 345) and, depending on their importance, request that the Attorney General of the Nation should intervene as a party. The intervention of the Comptroller doesn’t prevent that of the officer on whom the laws confer the corresponding representation;
22. To grant authorization for the utilization of funds of a different item, when for some kind of an emergency the highest authorities of the decentralized entities or institutions make a request to this effect.
In the application to be presented to the Comptroller General, the following must be proved with documentary evidence:
a) existence of the budget item;
b) lack of balance available under that heading;
c) specific order, in writing, form the competent authority;
d) urgency and the overriding need to make the expenditure;
e) usefulness of the same;
f) that immediate actions will be undertaken for the replacement; and
g) that no harm will accrue to the body or institution.
It will be understood to mean that there is an emergency and an overriding need to make the expenditure, when the security of the State depends on it, the internal law and order so warrants it, or to resolve some unforeseen calamity or to ensure the functioning and continuity of the public services.
As far as the entities and institutions of the National Government are concerned, this authority will be exercised by the Finance Ministry.
If the expenditure referred to in this article is made, without the authorization of the Comptroller General or the Finance Ministry, as the case may be, it will constitute misappropriation, and it will be dealt with in terms of article 257) of the Penal Code;
23. To impose fines and to put into effect the administrative and civil liabilities falling under the jurisdiction of the Comptroller General’s Office;
24. To prepare and to deliver to the various bodies of the State an annual report on the areas of their jurisdiction;
25. To make a pre-report on the proposed amendments or codification of this law; and
26. Any other matter entrusted to it by law.
Article 304.- Report on contracts.- The reasoned report of the Comptroller General will be a pre- requisite for the signing of all contracts entailing expenditure of public sector resources of an amount equal or more than that indicated by the law on competitive bidding, whether it has been competed for or bided for, or not. This report will refer to the compliance of the legal requirements and will, moreover, deal with the conditions of the contract.
The report that this article refers to will be prepared and brought out within a period of fifteen days counted from the date of receipt of the application along with all corresponding documents. The absence of the report will not impede the signing of the contract, once the period indicated in this paragraph expires.
The report referred to in this article will not be necessary in the contracts and agreements of internal or external public debt.
Article 305.- Exclusive use of names.- No other public sector entity or institution will be allowed to establish or maintain administrative units bearing the name of "Comptroller’s Office", nor posts with the designation of "Comptroller".
Article 306.- Highest controlling authority.- The Comptroller General is the highest controlling authority of public resources, within the terms of this law; it is his responsibility to represent the Comptroller General’s Office, exercise the powers conferred by law on the supreme control agency, manage its integral functioning and organization and implement its work plans.
Article 307.- Requisites.- In order to be appointed and to occupy the office of Comptroller General, the following are essential requisites:
1. Be more than 35 years of age;
2. Possess an academic degree conferred by a higher educational institution;
3. Have sufficient experience of activities related to financial administration or control;
4. Must not have been penalized, during the three years prior to the date on which his eligibility and merits for the office are assessed, for delay in the submission of financial information while working as an officer or employee of the entities and institutions subject to the control of the Comptroller General’s Office, in which capacity he is required to submit it within a particular timeframe; and
5. His name must not figure in any of the lists of persons banned from discharging public office on account of reasons enunciated in this law;
Article 308.- Appointment.- The Comptroller General will be appointed by the Legislative Body in accordance with what is provided for in the Constitution, and the term of his appointment will be as per the provisions of the Constitution.
Article 309.- Rank of Minister of State.- In official protocol, the rank of the Comptroller General will be that of a Minister of State. He will have a voice but no vote in the Cabinet meetings to which he may be called.
Article 310.- Responsibility.- The Comptroller General will be answerable to the Legislative Body for his own official actions an for those of his subalterns.
Article 311.- Dismissal.- The Comptroller General may be dismissed from office or be suspended from his duties only by the Legislative Body, on account of serious negligence or fraud while discharging his duties, or on account of permanent disability to discharge his duties.
Article 312.- Final decisions.- The decisions of the Comptroller General are final, not liable to any appeal as far as other authorities of executive action are concerned, without prejudice to the appeal for review provided for in the article 346); they may be impugned only by means of a legal process, in accordance with the specific provisions of this law.
Article 313.- Subrogation.- The Deputy Comptroller General will subrogate the Comptroller in case of inability, illness or any other temporary absence, as well as in case of ultimate absence till the appointment of the new Comptroller is made.
Article 314.- Delegation of powers.- The Comptroller General may delegate his powers whenever he considers it appropriate to do so. The official actions taken by officers, employees or special or permanent representatives, delegated for a specific purpose by the Comptroller General, will have the same force and effect as when such actions are taken by the Comptroller himself.
The delegates cannot, in turn, further delegate powers, but may give orders for some specific jobs – related to the delegation of power - to be carried out, which will be submitted to him for his information and assessment, acting as delegates till the time of the approval of these jobs.
Article 315.- Appointment and dismissal of staff.- The Comptroller General will appoint and dismiss the Deputy Comptroller and the officers and employees of the Institution, in conformity with the respective norms and regulations. In order to be appointed Deputy Comptroller, the requisites will be the same as for the office of Comptroller.
Article 316.- Ineligibility on account of relationship.- No person, who has blood relationship up to the fourth degree or a relationship by marriage up to the second degree with the Comptroller, Deputy Comptroller, Chief Finance Officer or the Head of the Accounts of the Comptroller’s Office, can be appointed as officer holding the rank of a head of department and the authority to take decisions, nor as auditors of the Comptroller General’s Office
In case somebody becomes ineligible on account of subsequently arising relationships, the officer or employee holding the lower post will quit; in case the officers are placed similarly in hierarchy, the more recently appointed one will quit.
Article 317.- Suitability of staff.- The staff of the Comptroller General’s Office will be of proven capability and suitability for the discharge of its respective duties. In order to ensure these conditions, the staff of the Comptroller’s Office will be required to submit proof regarding the same, of having passed the technical courses, basic and advanced, and of having regularly updated their knowledge in accordance with the specific norms of the Institution.
Article 318.- Essential academic qualifications of the executive staff.- The executive staff of the Comptroller General’s Office must necessarily be in possession of a University degree, in a discipline related to their duties and job requirements.
Article 319.- Staff of the audit units.- The administrative audit units of the Comptroller General’s Office will comprise of public accountants, with a University degree or equivalent, and assistants who must be in possession of the stipulated minimum eligibility requirements, who will be subjected to periodic assessment as regards their suitability, capability and professional ethics as well as their technical updating.
No person with a background of doubtful morality or honesty, or who has been penalized in his capacity as finance or accounts director for delay in the submission of financial reports to the Comptroller General’s Office during the three years prior to the date on which his eligibility requirements were assessed, will be appointed to a position having audit duties.
Article 320.- Signing of reports.- The audit and special inspection reports, prepared by the government auditors of the Comptroller General’s Office, will be signed by a professional having the position of Director of the administrative unit in charge of preparing these reports.
When the reports include the auditor’s certificate regarding the financial statements, they will be signed by the director of the corresponding audit unit.
Article 321.- Service conditions of the staff.- The Comptroller will issue the service conditions of the staff of the Comptroller’s Office, which will include the basic pay scales and the assessment of the posts of the staff of the Institution, as well as a career advancement scheme for its staff, who are subject to this law.
The staff of the Comptroller General’s Office cannot be dismissed except on serious grounds as have been laid down in law and after they have been proved.
In any case, the staff member who feels he has been aggrieved or harmed by a decision of the Comptroller General, may contest it in the Tribunal of Administrative Disputes. He will have the same right in case of tacit denial, that is, when within a period of twenty days of filing a claim, the corresponding decision is not notified.
Article 322.- Deputation of duties.- Without prejudice to whatever is provided for by the special laws, the officers and employees of the Comptroller General’s Office may not be deputed to any other service of any nature whatsoever, including short, medium and long service commissions, without the prior authorization of the Comptroller General.
Article 323.- Functional organic regulations.- The Comptroller General will draw up and keep an updated functional code of conduct of the Comptroller’s Office, in which will be laid down the organic structure as well as the functions of the various administrative units, for their efficient, effective and economical functioning; he may also draw up and update the other regulations and norms that may be necessary for the organization and functioning of the Institution.
Article 324.- Hiring of technical consultancy.- The Comptroller General may hire, when he doesn’t have specialists, the services of technical consultants, in respect of any specific matter or area relating to his functions. Likewise, he may hire the services of firms and companies of private audit and control of public works’ projects, in accordance with the corresponding regulations prescribed by the Comptroller.
