Mystery in Mendoza: Where Would the Environmental Management’s Notebooks Have Been Left?
<p style="text-align: justify;">It could be a reversal of the classic "Who has taken all the wine" by Mona Jimenez, but no. Four laptops and three digital cameras, among other items from the agency disappeared. The discovery was made by the Court of Auditors and led to charging three senior officials.</p>
The Court of Auditors conducted an audit in Mendoza in the Department of Environmental Protection that province to assess the administrative, financial and property management. Big was the surprise when it found several notebooks and cameras, among other goods were missing.
About the laptops the auditors noted that "in the computer industry two were valued at $2,219 and $3,699 but were not in place" and the Hazardous Waste area also found that it "lacked a $2,219 notebook."
In both cases, the Court stated that "there had been no actions to establish the facts" because the address in question took steps in an "untimely" way, i.e. outside the time in which it should have been done. The items missing were also observed in the director’s office.
But it was not the only electronic device that mysteriously was no longer in office. In the Oil Dependence "it was found three cameras valued at $2219 $1749 and $659, were not there." On these faults, the Watchdog re-emphasized that "the opening of administrative proceedings was late because of a theft that occurred in February 2012 and the record was held recently in August of that year.”
In addition, "there were other objects that disappeared as a file, chairs, table typewriter, GPS equipment, several desks, a journalist type recorder" only to name a few. It is worth saying that "the inventory of fixed assets was outdated November 2011 so it does not fairly represent the status and location of goods."
Faced with this situation the Court of Auditors found that "there is a financial loss to the public purse" so it decided stating the charges to those responsible, in this case it found that the two directors were in charge of inventories. They produced it "jointly and in solidarity", so that the three should pay the sum of $9,149.06.