Comptroller's Audit Finds Boat Fines Erased Without Justification at DRNA

An audit by the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico found that a single administrative official at the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) deleted six fines totaling $3,500 imposed on three boats between September 2024 and February 2025, with no record of justification or authorization in NEPTUNO, the system meant to document every transaction handled by the Navigation Office¹.

The report, identified as OC-27-15 and signed by Comptroller Carmen Vega Fournier, covers the period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025, spanning the tenure of three secretaries: the current one, Waldemar Quiles Perez, and his predecessors Anais Rodriguez Vega and Rafael Machargo Maldonado¹. After DRNA reviewed the finding, it retroactively authorized one of the deletions, lowering the amount the Comptroller still considers questionable from $3,500 to $2,300¹.

The audit didn't stop at the deleted fines. Examining 50 boat registration and renewal transactions worth $4,005, auditors found $2,555 tied to 35 renewals and one registration that lacked the signed owner requests and certifications required by regulation¹. They also identified $2,355 across 35 digital receipts missing the required cancellation stamp, and $650 in seven transactions with incorrectly recorded receipt numbers¹. At the system level, the report documents 1,806 gaps in the transaction sequence and 2,396 missing numbers within NEPTUNO, plus three physical vessel files that DRNA was unable to locate¹.

Auditors also noted the agency was not performing daily reconciliations between money collected at the register and what was logged in the system, nor verifying electronic receipts — two basic controls meant to prevent fine or registration money from disappearing or being manipulated without a trace¹.

What this means for you

If you own a boat registered in Puerto Rico, this affects you directly. The failures in NEPTUNO mean DRNA cannot guarantee with certainty that your registration, renewal, or a fine payment you made was properly documented in the system.

For taxpayers broadly, the case illustrates a pattern that repeats across Puerto Rican agencies: a single official with broad access to a system, without approval tiers or daily oversight, can erase government charges for months without anyone noticing.

How to check / Checklist

1. Keep physical and digital copies of any boat registration, renewal, or fine-payment receipt, with the date and transaction number clearly visible.
2. If you paid a fine and never received confirmation with a cancellation stamp, request in writing that DRNA confirm the transaction was logged in NEPTUNO.
3. Check that your current registration certificate matches your own records.
4. You can review the full OC-27-15 report on the Comptroller's Office website (oc.pr.gov).
5. If you suspect irregularities in how public funds are handled at any agency, the Comptroller's Office accepts citizen complaints through its online portal.

What's next

DRNA told the Comptroller it has already removed the administrative official's access to delete fines in the system, and plans to add additional approval levels and require more robust documentation before authorizing any future deletions¹. It will be the Comptroller's future follow-up reports that determine whether the promised fixes were actually put in place.

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Sources ¹ NotiCel — "Auditoria senala multas eliminadas sin evidencia y fallas en registros de embarcaciones del DRNA" — August 8, 2026