An audit by the Court of Accounts of the Republic (TCR), requested by the Departmental Board of Artigas, has revealed the payment of $52.7 million in irregular overtime to 53 officials, within a total of $326,934,704 payments in this concept between December 2020 and November 2023.
The anomalies include regulatory non-compliance, the absence of effective controls and the lack of clear regulations, according to the report, which was seen by various media outlets.
On July 30, the TCR approved the report prepared by its auditors, ordering the submission of the conclusions to the General Assembly, the Board and the Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition, it was decided that in the event of a request for a subsidy by former mayor Pablo Caram, the Court of Auditors would make the final decision on the preventive intervention of the expenditure.
The document stresses that the irregularities detected are “a consequence of rules that were not regulated prior to their application, as well as the lack of controls, separation of functions and conflicting interests, low staff rotation and manual registrations carried out by Human Resources staff.”
Lack of effective controls in the Municipality of Artigas
The report also highlights the “absence of an effective control environment”, attributed to the lack of a clear definition of responsibilities and assignment of tasks for officials, as well as their inappropriate behavior due to the lack of controls and the lack of regulations and procedure manuals, which resulted in “an environment conducive to the development of the irregularities noted.”
Among the report’s recommendations is the need to initiate “administrative investigations and summaries” to “determine responsibilities for non-existent extraordinary work, or work that exceeds legal limits, as well as for not being authorized by the respective hierarchy in a reasoned manner.”
In December 2023, the Departmental Board requested the TCR to carry out an audit focused on various aspects: the procedure for generating, settling and paying overtime and compensation for longer hours, including authorizations, records, computer system, internal control and regulatory compliance between 2020 and 2023; to analyze the risk of the existence of more officials with irregularities; to identify those responsible for alleged irregularities in 14 specific cases and to determine whether the corresponding contributions to social security were made.
This analysis shows that between 2020 and 2023, $52,722,024 was paid in overtime to 53 officials, a figure that reaches $54,780,057 if compensation is included. These officials recorded between 80 and 134 hours of overtime on average per month.
Officials involved in alleged irregularities with overtime in Artigas
The payment of overtime in the administration is based on specific regulations, such as Article 9 of the Departmental Budget, which establishes limits of 72 hours of overtime per month for officials with a 6-hour workday and 16 for those with an 8-hour workday. In addition, a service order issued on November 22, 2023 provided that overtime be settled up to a maximum of 80 hours.
The audit reviewed a sample of 16.6% of the period, comprising 26 officials during selected months between 2020 and 2022, and concluded that “overtime was paid above the limit established in ILO Convention 30, without proof of the tasks performed or justification for the overtime.”
At the request of the Departmental Board, the TCR audit closely observed 9 identified officials, later adding another 4 cases. Among these is Stefani Severo, partner of Mayor Caram’s cousin, whose case is the only one with judicial intervention so far, accumulating $1,493,378 in payments for irregular overtime.
Another relevant official is Miguel Irrazabal, advisor to the General Directorate, who collected more than 100 hours of overtime per month, without any marks on the biometric clock from December 2020 to December 2022 and from May 2023. Also noteworthy is the case of Nelson Rolon, who went from being a trusted position to grade 9 with more than 100 hours of overtime authorized per month without justification and totaling $727,977.
Carlos Negro, communications manager, received an unjustified 40% compensation, accumulating payments of more than 100 hours of overtime per month and a total of $2,053,274. Also mentioned are Omar Bicera, who worked more than 80 hours of overtime per month for a total of $1,582,890, and Luis Ribero, who received $2,724,568 after being responsible for the fleet of vehicles for the municipality and performing driver duties.
Ney Pechi, an engineering and construction driver, worked several Saturdays and holidays, exceeding 100 hours of overtime in December 2023, and was mentioned in a councilor’s complaint for his relationship with an administrative secretary of the mayor’s office.
The Court of Auditors report concludes that the Municipality of Artigas has a weak internal control system regarding overtime and compensation, failing to comply with the regulations governing extraordinary work. 13 weaknesses are highlighted, although some corrective measures were implemented in March 2023.
