A report by the Office of the Comptroller General (CGR) revealed the poor controls on the Administrative Board of the Electricity Service of Cartago (JASEC) regarding the management of projects related to the Info-communication Network, to the point that they report 14 billion of colones allocated for works “under construction”, but that in fact were already delivered and they have been in operation for some time.
The Comptroller explained that this could jeopardize the financial sustainability of the proposals and the adherence to the legal framework that governs them.
It was determined that JASEC maintains accounting records of the info-communication network with a value of ¢ 14,116,272,895.69 as if they were under construction, despite the fact that the quality of the network was already received to satisfaction and installed, and that it provides services since January 2015,”
said the report by the CGR.
The entity also discovered that there are wrong accounting practices such as adding operating expenses for the sale of services at the cost of the network, as well as deducting from that cost the revenues for the provision of Internet and digital and analog television service.
In addition, JASEC has not carried out an analysis to determine if there is a deterioration in the value of the assets of the info-communication network or if the value of the weather-related damages is too high, which would imply that the company has economic losses that have not been registered.
Since 2008, JASEC has been empowered to provide internet, telephony and television services through the Law for the Strengthening and Modernization of Public Entities in the Telecommunications Sector. The institution launched these projects in 2009. The total cost of the works is ¢ 20,788,930,047.35, of which 68% corresponds to the info-communication network.