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The auditor of SA was layered with evidence of corruption
Source: The King?s Coffer #83
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Santa Cruz’s star was going down. Governor Rebolledo and the royal officials in St. Augustine were even then gathering testimony, and in 1659 they sent Salvador de Cigarroa to Madrid as a procurador to expose him at court. The accusations Cigarroa made in Madrid were serious: Santa Cruz claimed to have eight assistants and to have finished the work in ten months, whereas he had actually had two assistants and had not finished. His marginal entries were not in correct form. He had charged people for copies of his judgments and refused to provide any. In all his time as auditor he had neither given receipts for payments against debts nor put anything into the treasure chest. He had released fiscal offenders from prison by a private arrangement: they gave him a portion of what they owed and he reported the debt uncollectible. He had laid a charge of 4,500 pesos for expenses (including 2,500 pesos for the purported assistants) upon the Florida treasury and had tried to embargo the situado on its way through Havana to pay it. From various persons he had extorted 8,000 pesos in libranzas, wrought silver, jewels, and other valuables. After the time of his audit no one could be found to accept (in other words, to buy) a bonded office, for fear of him and his false reports. In response to these charges and to complaints emanating from Cuba, the Council ordered the investigation and punishment of Auditor Pedro Beltran de Santa Cruz. The visita was entrusted to the bishop of Cuba; when he died without having done it, the task was handed onto his successor. In 1666, 13 years after his trip to Florida, the auditor was still awaiting trial and the Floridians had still not received a copy of his audit. [Note 56: Pedro Benedit Horruytiner 11/10/1657; Salvador de Cigarroa, Madrid, 6/25/1659; Gov. Guerra y Vega 8/27/1666, with comments by the fiscal of the Council between 9/17/1667 and 10/21/1667]
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