The O'Higgins Regional Comptroller's Office detected various irregularities in the issuance of identity cards to foreigners at the Nancagua office of the Civil Registry and Identification Service (SRCeI). According to Emol, the agency will initiate disciplinary proceedings and send its final report to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic is the autonomous body that oversees the legality of actions by the state administration and the use of public resources. In this case, it conducted a special investigation into the Civil Registry's Regional Directorate in O'Higgins.
The examination focused on applications processed between November 2021 and December 2022 at the Nancagua office, as well as some later periods. El Mostrador reported an end date of December 2020, a figure that does not match the information reported by Emol and Cooperativa.
The review arose from judicial information linked to an alleged network dedicated to fraudulently obtaining identification documents for foreigners. Auditors analyzed 50 of the 136 documents issued to foreigners at that office.
The main finding concerns Nancagua's then deputy civil registrar. According to the report, she processed and issued identity cards even when the accompanying documentation was invalid, either because it belonged to another person or because the immigration papers were invalid.
In other cases, it was impossible to verify the existence or authenticity of the electronic stamps meant to certify applicants' immigration status. Some of those stamps lacked the QR code used to verify them.
The Comptroller's Office concluded that these actions breached the obligations established in the Organic Law of the Civil Registry and Identification Service. It also found a lack of adequate controls to validate immigration documentation submitted by foreigners.
The report adds another finding. Previous disciplinary investigations by the Civil Registry itself ended without establishing responsibility, despite the findings described. The sources do not specify how many internal proceedings there were or when they were closed.
For this reason, the Office of the Comptroller General will open a new disciplinary inquiry to establish any administrative responsibility of the officials involved. It will also forward a copy of the report to the Public Prosecutor's Office, according to Cooperativa, over the possible commission of crimes.
