The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) found that the Municipality of Antofagasta recorded 70,661 medical and sensory assessment exams lasting less than a minute, according to CNN Chile. Of these, 70,425 were recorded as passed. The audit reviewed the issuance of driving licences between January 2024 and December 2025.
The findings appear in Final Report No. 419 of 2026. According to the agency, those times make it impossible to establish that the procedures lasted long enough to verify the physical and sensory conditions required by law for applicants.
The details are striking. According to the CGR, 253 vision and hearing assessments were recorded as taking "zero seconds to complete". Other exams recorded times between 0 and 59 seconds.
The report adds that the municipality issued three class D licences to applicants whose files contained failed psychometric exams. Class D authorises the operation of motorised machinery, such as cranes or backhoes.
Practical tests for class B licences, used by most private motorists, also had problems. The Comptroller's Office reported that 265 exams lasted between 2 and 24 minutes, despite regulations requiring a longer minimum duration. Of that group, 204 were completed in just 10 minutes.
The audit also detected conflicts of interest. In 2024 and 2025, at least four municipal officials assessed or approved exams taken by close relatives, including a mother, a brother, a nephew and a brother-in-law. According to the CGR, there was no evidence that they had recused themselves.
One of those officials acted as an examiner in his own licence application process. In addition, 17,720 exams were handled by officials who had not demonstrated that they met the requirements to serve as examiners.
The report also points to licences issued to people subject to legal restrictions. The municipality issued 402 licences to people listed in the National Register of Child Support Debtors at the time of issuance. It also issued 198 licences to people with convictions recorded in the five years before their application.
The Comptroller's Office shared the report on X on October 14, highlighting the figure of more than 70 thousand exams passed in less than a minute. The source does not include a response from the Municipality of Antofagasta.
The CGR ordered a formal inquiry to determine administrative responsibility. It will also send the report to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Defence Council (CDE), the agency that represents the state in court, so they can assess what action falls within their remit.
