Although a requirement for access to the Hilton quota is that refrigerators meet their tax and social security obligations, the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) found that in 2005-2006 the National Bureau of Agricultural Trade Control (ONCCA, for its acronym in Spanish) awarded tons to companies that had tax debts with AFIP.

When cross-checking was conducted by the federal watchdog with the collection agency, it emerged that the ONCCA benefited, among others, Zaimán SA, FV and Associates, Exp. Agroindustriales Arg., and the Processing and Meat Company. And although from the Department they argued that they had consulted if the debtors had updated their status after the awards, the AGN stated that "for the verified cases, there are not expansion records of such adjustments."

The Hilton Quota is a cargo of 28,000 tons of high-quality beef, chilled boneless, which is exported to the EU under preferential tariff. It is distributed to companies of the sector, or refrigerators to be authorized by the ONCCA after meeting certain requirements, which are not reached by the governing import duties in the old continent. The value of a ton at the closing of AGN’s report was $10 thousand dollars, meaning that the Department is responsible for managing the distribution of about $280 million dollars.

The audit, which adopted its report this year, took a sample of refrigerators which joined the Hilton quota between 2005 and 2006 and found that the area of inspections at ONCCA did not control any of the selected firms. In fact, the report argues that this sector "lacks planning activities", and cannot determine what criteria is used to select companies who audit or the procedures that need to be performed.

Furthermore, the report highlights that they found "no evidence" to explain why in 2004 the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, which then administered the Hilton Quota, awarded about 900 tons to five refrigerators that were to be delivered in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, i.e., one year in advance. According to the AGN "(This) allows us to infer that the amounts were decided without taking into account background or compliance with the relevant requirements," and adds that "proceeding under this mechanism departs from the criteria in the regulations".

While the Hilton quota was under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture, the agency had the power to take emergency measures to protect the development and continuity of a particular industry sector. That’s exactly what a refrigerator in Bariloche did.  Its name was Jesus Arroyo SA and it was awarded 250 Hilton tons. What happened was that because the company was between two sanitary areas preserved to prevent the entry of cattle with FMD, the Secretariat understood that regionalization endangered livestock activity and affected more than 200 families. However, the audit listed a number of observations: there were no elements indicating the allocated quantity of 250 tons provided; there is no record that verifies if Arroyo SA met the tax and social security obligations; the exception included an authorization for the firm to produce the quota in establishments that did not belong to them, even though the health status of Bariloche allowed them to source raw materials normally. Thus, the report concludes that "no sufficient explanation to support an exceptional treatment followed by the allocation of the quota is provided."

But not everything is bad for the agencies that distribute the Hilton quota. In fact, the Audit recognizes that ONCCA "significantly stripped" benefit allocations ordered by court decisions. The financial crisis that the meat industry had gone through in previous years had caused several companies to enter bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings and, therefore, the court ordered the Secretary of Agriculture to allocate quotas to several firms, even though they would not cover every requirement, they would meet their creditors. The report notes that in the 2003-2004 cycle precautionary measures accounted for 51.16% of the entire Hilton quota, in the following period it was reduced to 28.1%, and in the 2005-2006 judicial decisions decreased the benefit to 6.23%, "enforcing the regulations for the bidders to meet the requirements." However, the watchdog recommended they pay "particular attention" to the precautionary measures product of insolvent proceedings carried over from previous years.

The period analyzed by the AGN, 2005-2006, was the first in which preferential meat exports to Europe were under ONCCAs’ aegis. In its conclusions, the watchdog noted that the Office "lacks organic-functional structure, so the areas involved in the management of the Hilton quota are not exhaustively identified, nor are their responsibilities  established," and completed that the Agency "has no manual procedures to order and standardize their activities."