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Financial, staffing scandals rock University of Chiriquí

LA PRENSA/ Boris Gómez

hard lessons: A university dean claims computer hard drives in the school’s administrative offices were erased, an act that may be linked to missing funds and a half million-dollar deficit.1076905

Héctor Requena, dean of the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (Unachi), has asked the Contraloría General to conduct a comprehensive audit of the institution after school administrators discovered a half million-dollar budget shortfall.

Unachi bank statements also showed funds intended for staff salaries for the 2006-07 academic year had gone missing.

The dean was alerted to the financial irregularities after someone deleted the hard drives of computers in the university’s administrative offices. Office clerks questioned by the dean claimed ignorance.

Since then, Requena remarked that the school’s vice chancellor and several administrative staff have left their jobs.

Indira Candanedo, general secretary for Unachi staff, suggested that if Requena wants to recover the information erased from the office computers’ hard drives, he could simply hire a computer technician.

“It’s unfortunate that the dean didn’t know [what information was stored on the drives],” she said. “But a good programmer can recover it.”

The university’s financial woes don’t end there. Vice administrator Moisés Castillo estimated that Unachi has accumulated a deficit of around $1 million. He said he intends to contact the Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas to discuss alternative sources of funding.

La Prensa attempted to locate the former Unachi dean, Virgilio Olmos, who was replaced by Requena in May. He didn’t respond to calls.

In a separate issue, Secretary Candanedo criticized the recent dismissal of 27 professors at Unachi, claiming that they were “unjustified” and “violated” the college’s hiring regulations. It’s an issue the dean has not clarified, she added.

“The dean gives ambiguous responses [to our questions,]” she said.

Meanwhile, Requena said he’d detected a number of serious irregularities in the university’s hiring procedure for its campuses in Boquete, the highlands and the eastern region of the province.

Assessments for hiring teachers were neither supervised nor approved by authorized personnel, he said.

To avoid confusion and fraud, Requena said he will create a new database with better checks and balances. This project will impact the normal class schedule, but the university and its various campuses will remain open.