The head of the migration service to the complaint of the controller: “This is what the officials of that time should answer”

Head of Immigration Jorge Fernandez, specified that what was discovered on Tuesday by the Accounts Chamber about an unjustified delay in the process of buying 700,000 booklets of e-passports should be answered by officials who were there last year. The head of the said institution clarified that its work had just begun in 2022.

“This is what the officials who were in August 2021 will have to answer. The last passport purchase was made in 2019 for 2020 and from there for 2021. it is a fact that they were supposed to be replaced by care in 2021, however, we allowed him to work from January to August,” he said in the program “Todo se Sabe” RPP news.

Jorge Fernandez indicated that his department is working on a solution to the problem of shortages passports which caused complaints from thousands of users.

“Our management begins March 17, 2022. What we have done is correct the mistakes we found, in the previous interview we were still evaluating, we are already serving six months, we have taken corrective action on the case, we are putting out fires and we are offering solutions to have passports,” said he.

The head of the migration service, on the other hand, indicated that 250,000 passports were issued in 2020, and about 700,000 in 2021. In this sense, he criticized the then officials for not foreseeing the deficit.

“If I issue 250,000 in 2020, then the least I can do is replace them in the first months of 2021 so that there is no shortage and this is not done. Do you know when the purchase of new passports was required? According to control report, in August 2021. If the purchase of passports was so important and necessary, then one should ask the officials of that time why they are delayed, and one should also ask why they recently included the purchase of passports in the annual contracting plan in September-November, the official explained.

On the other hand, he explained that migration He will not be responsible for imposing sanctions on the four officials responsible for delaying the purchase of passports, as this will be work Controller.

“Migration will not be those who will “judge” them or open an administrative penalty, but Controller, but let’s move on to how we solve this problem. When we arrived at the immigration office, we found 60,000 laptops in storage, of which 40,000 had some kind of malfunction that the supplier had to replace. It was replaced, in parallel, the supplier had to, by virtue of this contract, questioned by Conteraloría, deliver the first batch only in May. In connection with the war, there was a shortage of paper, which justifies the increase in its price. passport and asks for an extension. However, we received the first early delivery, which took place on April 11,” he said.

Passport Purchase Delay

Officials from the National Migration Directorate “unduely delayed the process” of purchasing 700,000 e-passport books and protective plates, resulting in a shortage and suspension of activities. According to Comptroller General of the Republicthis situation directly affected service continuity and caused users to lose international flights.