An audit from the State Assembly Auditor’s Office revealed dozens of serious issues in public health agency
The state Auditor’s Office suggested lawmakers decline to approve the 2020 budget results document due to the finding of dozens of serious issues in public health agency.
Among those irregularities the auditor’s office found unauthorized hiring of hundreds of employees, funneling of funds, authorizing contracts to new companies and unpaid taxes.
Also, the agency detected overdue medication and other accounting issues.
According to the report, the Department of Public Health, led by then Secretary Alonso Perez Rico, allegedly paid 13.4 million pesos in direct contracts for air conditioning units although state law limits straight assignment of contracts to 3.7 million pesos.
Also the agency paid 91.5 percent of 48 million pesos or about $2.4 million USD in direct contracts — violating state law.
Contracts
A single company received 16 contracts the day after its registration and although the company failed to prove its expertise and ability.
The public health agency also failed to pay around $4.4 million in taxes, the document says.
At the same time, the auditor’s office pointed out that at least in six of 190 cases of dismissed employees no backup documents were included for the payment of dismissal settlement of over $600,000 USD.
The audit reveals as well a difference between Personal Services Accounts and Human Resources documents close to $7 million USD. However, based on budget documents the difference is around $12.5 million USD.
The Department of Public Health hired 590 employees in 2020 although the hiring was not approved in the State’s budget.
Baja California’s public health agency reported $1.3 million USD in overdue medication in the 2017-2020 period.
Between January 2021 and February 2022 the department reported more than $5 million USD in overdue medication, including insulin, hepatitis B vaccines and others.
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