Comptroller's Office warns of tax findings totaling more than $1.17 trillion this year

In just six months of 2025, the Comptroller General's Office has identified potential damage to public assets totaling $1.17 trillion. This was revealed in the most recent report on the results of fiscal oversight across the country, which compiles the findings of 4,196 audits conducted by the watchdog between January and June of this year.

The sectors with the highest concentration of fiscal findings, that is, irregularities that could result in a loss to the treasury, are housing, basic sanitation, education, road infrastructure, and health. These areas have also traditionally received the greatest amount of state investment, highlighting the need to strengthen pre-, concurrent-, and post-execution controls.

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Of the 9,241 administrative findings reported, 1,454 have a suspected fiscal impact, representing approximately 15.7% of the total detected. In addition, there are 1,984 disciplinary findings, which will be forwarded to the Attorney General's Office, and 48 findings with suspected criminal implications, which will be forwarded to the Attorney General's Office.

According to Comptroller General Carlos Mario Zuluaga, "These results demonstrate that fiscal oversight remains a key tool for defending public assets. Our task is not only punitive, but also preventive and corrective."

More processes underway

The report also shows that, so far this year, 1,042 preliminary investigations have been opened and 581 fiscal responsibility proceedings have been initiated, bringing the cumulative total to 3,559 since September 2022, when the current administration began. These actions seek to recover committed resources and establish individual or joint administrative liability.

To date, the total amount of funds recovered by the Comptroller's Office since 2022 exceeds $3 billion, including completed proceedings, reconciliations, and coercive collection mechanisms.

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One of the main focuses of oversight in this first half of the year was the use of resources from the General Royalties System (SGR), which included audits of $2.74 trillion associated with projects underway in the country's 32 departments and more than 700 municipalities.

The most audited sectors with royalty resources were education (29.6%), drinking water and basic sanitation (19.5%), transportation (16.3%), and housing (9.4%). In these cases, concerns were identified regarding execution delays, technical deficiencies, payments without supporting documentation, and irregular contracting.

Works that do not advance

As part of its "Commitment to Colombia – Saving Public Works" strategy, the Comptroller's Office also reported that 40 public works projects have been handed over to the public in 2025 following intervention, mediation, or oversight processes. These are part of the 284 projects reactivated starting in 2022, with an aggregate value of $4.1 billion.

The oversight body is currently monitoring 1,092 critical projects, many of which are well underway physically but have been held up due to legal, financial, or implementation issues.

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With all of the above, the Comptroller's Office closed by calling on the entities that execute public spending to strengthen their internal control mechanisms and cooperate with the oversight work, emphasizing that "fiscal control cannot be seen as a threat, but rather as an ally in good public management," Zuluaga concluded.

With a landscape of growing fiscal fragility and increased spending pressures, the results of this first half of the year warn that every poorly spent public peso represents not only damage to the country's wallet, but also a loss of confidence in institutions, and that, in the opinion of experts, is the most difficult wound to heal.