Tribunal de Cuentas de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego
TC Tierra del Fuego
Summary
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The Tribunal de Cuentas (Court of Accounts) is an autonomous body for the external audit of the economic and financial management of the three branches of the provincial State (Ley 50 Article 1). It has three members, two public accountants and one lawyer (Constitution Article 163).
The Executive appoints all three: the lawyer on the proposal of the Council of the Judiciary (Consejo de la Magistratura), one accountant on the proposal of the Legislature, and the other accountant on its own decision (Constitution Article 164; Ley 50 Articles 5 and 6). No legislative vote on the appointment is stated.
The text sets no term of office: members cannot be removed while their good conduct lasts and are subject to political trial (juicio politico) (Constitution Article 165), which is the only route to removal (Ley 50 Article 9), on grounds of crimes in office, intentional common crimes, poor performance of the office or indignity (Constitution Article 114). The presidency passes to each member in turn for one year, by lot (Ley 50 Article 14).
The Tribunal prepares its own budget, which goes to the Executive for inclusion in the General Budget of the Province, with a copy to the Legislature (Constitution Article 166(6); Ley 50 Article 26(d)). It may request information, documents or opinions from any organ or office of the State and may apply sanctions (Ley 50 Article 4(c) and (h)).
In a trial of accounts its auditor may require documents from public offices and summon those responsible for the accounts, or any State agent, to declare on them (Article 40), and failure to submit accounts can draw a fine of up to 80 percent of the monthly salary (Article 37).
It reports to the Legislature on the investment account and sends an annual report on its management by 30 June, published in the Official Gazette (Article 2(e) and (h)); its President attends the Legislature every six months to report on the Tribunal's work (Article 16).
Independence Scorecard
| Appointment | Executive appointment |
|---|---|
| Term length | Not specified |
| Removal standard | Impeachment only |
| Budget independence | Legislative line item |
| Subpoena power | No |
| Compel testimony | No |
| Records access | Full access |
| Public reports required | Yes |
| Pre-publication review | None — reports published directly |
Statute
- Name
- Ley Provincial N° 50 (Tribunal de Cuentas) and Constitución de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur, Articles 163 to 166
- Citation
- Ley Provincial N° 50 (Tribunal de Cuentas) sanción 26 de noviembre de 1992, B.O.P. 23 de diciembre de 1992; Constitución de la Provincia de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur (Constitution of the Province), arts. 114 and 163 to 166
- Full text
- Full text of law →
Jurisdiction scope
The economic and financial management of the three branches of the provincial State, together with decentralised and autarchic bodies, the public enterprise sector, municipalities (where their organic charters have not set up their own control body) and communes (Ley 50 Article 1). The Tribunal may extend its competence, by plenary agreement of its members, to non-State public-law entities and private-law entities in which the Province is a partner or is responsible for direction or administration (Article 3). Its jurisdiction covers State salaried staff and persons who, without being State agents, dispose of or hold public property in custody (Article 43); for officials subject to desafuero, juicio politico or judicial trial, the Tribunal requests those procedures instead of a liability trial of its own (Article 48).