At least $31 million has been squandered or diverted from Colombia’s mining sector according to a royalties audit, Colombia media reported Tuesday.
The preliminary results of the audit by Colombia’s Comptroller General detected 1089 cases of diverted or squandered resources amounting to $41 million according to a different news source.
Of these, 477 findings warrant disciplinary proceedings, and 84 warrant criminal proceedings. More than half of the 79 municipalities and departments audited were found to have irregularities.
The comptroller assigned to the mining and energy sector, Gladys Becerra Camargo, said that the departments of Meta and Casanare top the list of local authorities with the greatest number of irregularities due to the poor management of financial resources.
The most frequent types of cases involve the improper holding of contracts and the squandering of resources on incomplete or unnecessary works.
