After analyzing the work of the Customs of Rio Gallegos, the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) concluded, among other things, that in the area of summary of this dependence a 'remarkable procedural inactivity "is recorded. It was detected that the branch had paralyzed for a year and a half a record of more than 3.5 million dollars.

The story began in September 2006, when the company Enap Sipetrol Argentina, international subsidiary of the National Oil Company of Chile, a kind of transsandes of YPF, contested a tax charge amounting to $3,516,946.69. According to the AGN, "the scale of the issue" caused the intervention of several levels of the Customs of Buenos Aires, including the Export Division rating, the Department head of Strategic Value Management, the Risk Management Directorate, and the deputy of the General Customs Control, who ruled on the case in October 2007. "Since then, the audits have continued, there were no developments in the case until the issue of the Legal Opinion dated to April 27th, 2009, a year and six months later.”

The watchdog completed that, "ultimately, the Collector of Customs issued an order without confirming a date or number" and that until January 14th of last year the case was in the Tax Court's Office, pending a final decision, which, until the closing of the investigation, did not happen.

Other Observations

Moreover, the Audit described other shortcomings both in the Customs of Rio Gallegos, as well as in Bariloche and Mendoza. In Santa Cruz, for example, there is no software to detect narcotics. In addition, there are goods that might have been stolen, but there isn’t a computer system registry or inventory control.

In the reservoir, while the auditors found open boxes without identification of Lot Act they noted that the documentation files are mixed and insufficient. They also stated that the only resources for fire prevention are some fire extinguishers.

The watchdog found that there is shortage of staff: the Verification Section only has four officials  to complete all of their tasks and the Accounting Section has its entire staff only during "exceptional circumstances", since they have to cover the four border crossings. 

Mendoza

The customs area of Puerto Seco is primarily intended to facilitate foreign trade by land. The audit team noted that this checkpoint usually collapses frequently due to the volume of trucks. In addition, security cameras are insufficient and the state of the buildings and health situation is not appropriate.

About the deposited good being abducted, the AGN verified that it is in very poor condition, it is insufficient, and overloaded. The place has no smoke or heat detectors that would avoid a future fire.

While oriented courses are promoted in customs operations, lack of staff and the need to cover operating points make their appliance impossible. Also, the staff works precariously, since they do not have gloves, helmets, goggles, or other items necessary for their safety.

Despite the shortage of human resources in the Border Customs, this had already been observed earlier by Audit, the problem still exists in the Mendoza customs.

Bariloche

In this custom the AGN detected "inadequate staff training." On the issue, the staff said the scientific and technical training "is not sufficient for the needs of operational technology expertise." So much so that the INVAP / TECNO ACTION / NUSOFT companies make available "an engineer who intensifies the specific description of the material to import and / or export", and auditors added that this "is the most sensitive issue as it is an operative export of scientific materials (nuclear reactors, satellites, radars, etc.). "