BRIEFS: Finance

Foundation invites audit

Comtroller Carlos Vallarino has ordered a special audit of the Fundación Amador, which is managing the finances for the construction of the Museo de la Biodiversidad designed by Frank Gehry.

Vallarino's order follows a July 14 request for an audit from anticorruption prosecutor Mercedes de Mendizábal, which was made in response to a complaint filed by attorney Rito Torres. Torres asked the Ministerio Público, which oversees the prosecutor's office, to look into the possible mismanagement of public funds.

A spokesperson for the Fundación said that it has always managed its activities with transparency and that its transactions have been regularly reviewed by the comptroller's office. In fact, he said, that it was the Fundación that first requested the audit of its activities during the period under question, from Jan. 1 2000 to Dec. 31, 2004.