translated from Spanish: Without being accused of detours of La Estafa, so is the Robles case a year from being imprisoned

On 13 August 2019, at a hearing that Rosario Robles voluntarily attended after being cited by a judge, the Attorney General’s Office publicly reported that the two units she had headed in the past six-year period – Sedesol and Sedatu – had signed fraudulent agreements that allowed the diversion of more than five billion pesos.
Prosecutors ensured, in listing the evidence, that they had 16 ongoing investigations and investigation folders initiated by the Federation’s Superior Audit allegations, which detailed one by one the deviations under the scheme known as “The Master Scam”.
Find out: Luxurious travel and contradictions in homes: how the judge justified keeping Rosario in jail
But a year away and despite being imprisoned, Rosario Robles has not been accused of stealing, washing or illegally exploiting the billions that were allegedly diverted with this fraudulent scheme. Even at a new private hearing in March in the mass, to which Political Animal had access, prosecutors acknowledged that in none of the 16 inquests referred to initially he is responsible for any crime.
So what about Rosario Robles? A single ongoing criminal proceeding, which is about to arrive at the trial stage, in which you are held responsible for alleged omissions. Specifically, if they had done nothing to prevent Sedesol and Sedatu from signing fraudulent agreements that caused the possible diversion of millionaires.
They are the same agreements that, according to the report of “The Master Scam” and the ASF audits, were also signed in eleven federal government agencies, including Pemex, under the direction of Emilio Lozoya Austin. But so far neither he nor any of the other secretaries of state have been prosecuted for allowing it.
The crime that was imputed to Robles is not one of those known as “serious” and who deserve automatic imprisonment. Despite this, and to have voluntarily appeared to the hearing to which she was summoned (she never had a warrant for her arrest turned against her), the judge ordered her to be imprisoned.
The justification is that there was a risk that it would leak because it had two driver’s licenses with different addresses. But the defense carried out an expert that shows that the signature and traces of one of these licenses do not correspond to Robles, and that the document was illegally issued by the Ministry of Mobility of Mexico City (Semovi).
Semovi confirmed to Political Animal that it separated an operational official from office for alleged irregularities, and that an inquiry is ongoing. The Capital Prosecutor’s Office also has an investigation folder for a possible crime of public servants.
A few days after being criminally prosecuted, the Civil Service Secretariat (SFP) said that Robles had been barred for 10 years for “falsified information in his estate statement”, without giving further details
The opinion of that penalty, to which this medium had access, reveals that the only anomaly detected was a debit card with 2 thousand 800 pesos of balance, which was decommissioned since 2016, but that Robles did not report on its returns. It’s an administrative misconduct outside the Master Scam. The SFP also insote the former’s assets, but concluded that there were no irregularities.
“These accusations against Robles are not only very limited, it is not a real fight to a network of corruption. A single civil servant is single-identified when in fact she operated a large system involving secretaries of state, university rectors and many more. None of that has been reflected,” Estefanía Medina, co-founder of toJIL, who also filed a criminal complaint for this case, said in interview.
Process and scam?
On 6 May 2019, FGR owner Alejandro Gertz Manero promised a “restructuring” of the Master Scam investigation. Although there were complaints, they had been mis handled as isolated cases. “It must be investigated as a sacking from power (…) undercover by the state and from the perspective of organized crime,” the prosecutor said.
Five months later, the FGR proceeded against Robles, formerly one of the eleven units involved in mega fraud. There was no arrest warrant, but he was summoned to appear before the judge. It was publicly interpreted as the first high-level case for The Master Scam.
At the initial hearing, prosecutors confirmed that detours of up to 5 billion had been recorded from agreements signed from Sedesol and Sedatu. However, They did not accuse Robles of staying, diverting or stealing that money, but of the crime of unlawful exercise of the under the assumption that it did not prevent mismanagement from occurring. That is, a charge of omission whose sentence did not exceed 7 years in prison.
The judge who led the hearing, Jesús Delgadillo Padierna (who was ultimately accused of defending conflict of interest by being related to a political opponent of Robles), linked the ex-officer to the process, but aggravated the allegation. He said the crime charged by prosecutors had to be multiplied by twofold: the omission of Sedesol and the omission in Sedatu.
As part of the evidence to support the robustness of the case, prosecutors referred to 16 ongoing inquiries and folders initiated by irregular agreements reported by the ASF. Some of these folders were referred to by Judge Delgadillo in his decision to link Robles to the process, a determination of which robles also has a written copy.
However, at a new judicial hearing – this private one – held on April 10th and in which Robles’ defence requested a copy of these folders, prosecutors noted that they were investigations initiated against other lower-ranking officials, but where Robles was not in the form of an indication.
In this context, Animal Político asked the FGR to know if there was any other process or investigation related to Robles or the deviations evidenced in The Master Scam, but to date of publication of this note there has been no response.
“The truth is that Rosario Robles is not accused by The Master Scam. The accusation is not by peculado, it is not for deviation, it is not operations with resources of illicit origin, namely: Rosario is not accused of having stolen a single weight. This accusation, which was filed, is only omission,” defense attorney Epigmenio Mendieta said in an interview.
Although Gertz said the case of La Estafa was a state machination, to date no other high-level ex-officials have been prosecuted even though, as already documented in several reports, the signing of the same agreements was also allowed in other units.
Even in the same case of Sedesol and Sedatu there is a key character, Emilio Zebadúa, who is pointed out in its complaints as the main operator of possible mismanagement of money, since he was the Senior Officer of these units. But unlike Robles, Zebadúa did not appear and so far remains a fugitive from justice.
“It is very unfortunate, the initial thesis in which the Prosecutor’s Office demonstrates its inability and unwillingness to investigate cases in a comprehensive manner, and to seek the existence of a network of corruption, its operation, to achieve its dismantling and sanctions. But on the contrary they focus on dividing the fact and the characters into very limited accusations,” said Estefanía Medina.
Ten years for two thousand pesos
A month after Robles was prosecuted and imprisoned, the Civil Service Secretariat (SFP) announced her disqualification as a public official for a period of ten years. In an official statement, in which no detail was given, she only referred that the former officer had “falsified information in her estate statement.
But a review of the file 000064/2018 that the SFP integrated for this case and to which Animal Político had access, shows that the irregularity had nothing to do with false data but with the failure of Robles to refer in its property declarations a bank card cancelled since 2016, in which there was a balance of 2 thousand 888 pesos.
That irregularity was detected at first instance by an analysis of economic developments, based on the VP/028/2018 file, and which Robles itself applied to the SFP in 2018. In that procedure, as set out in DG/DGAVP/311/168/2018, it was determined that there were no unjustified increases in the assets of the former interoperability and the revision was therefore completed.
However, a separate administrative procedure had been initiated as a debit card corresponding to the Santander Super Payroll Account number 56-57716325-3 had been identified, with the amount already referred to, which did not appear in the ex-officer’s statements.
This anomaly, which has no relation to criminal inquiries or that of The Master Scam, was the reason why the SFP decided to impose a ten-year suspension on the former funeral. It was, in short, an administrative misconduct. The sanction could not be applied since the defence obtained a final suspension for a court of protection.
“It’s a completely disproportionate penalty. The idea was created that Rosario was sanctioned for the Master Scam but again it is a misrepresentation. She’s finished sanctioning for not reporting an account she didn’t remember. It was omisa in remembering that she had a debit card that she had since 2008 and that’s why they intend to disable it for 10 years,” the lawyer said.
Questioned about this determination, the SFP told Political Animal through its area of communication that the amount is not relevant to the sanction, but the irregularity itself. “The penalty is for lack of veracity in the statement, that’s the reason, regardless of the amount,” the dependency replied.
For the TOJIL organization, the disparity between what has been documented and reported and what the SFP breathed evidence of an “operational fracture” between administrative and criminal investigations, making it difficult to prosecute the great acts of corruption
Double license: deception of Rosario or the State?
Although the crime charged to Robles does not warrant automatic pre-trial detention, the former funeral home is about to serve a year in prison. This after the judge, at the request of the prosecutors, considered that it was necessary to impose a pre-trial detention justified on the possibility of him fleeing.
The main argument in which that decision was based is the doubt that exists about his domicile. This is because while the former official has always maintained that she lives in Coyoacán, the FGR stated that there is a driver’s license in her name with another address: Tennyson s/n, Col. Axotla, in Alvaro Obregón.
Robles’ defense has maintained that this license was not processed by Robles and that the data is false. Epigmenio Mendieta gave this medium a copy of three photography, fingerprints and graphoscopy carried out by CYA Pericial Services that analyzed the document.
What the studies conclude is that none of the fingerprints listed in the aforementioned driving license, with folio 3117487, correspond to the hands of Robles; the signature based on the document does not come from his handwriting; and the document photograph was not taken on Semovi, but taken from a website. All this even though the license is official.
Questioned on this issue, Semovi confirmed to Animal Politician through its area of communication that there was an alleged internal irregularity being investigated. In fact, an operational official of the unit, responsible for the process of the fake license of Robles, has already been discharged.
For its part, the Prosecutor’s Office of Mexico City confirmed that, on the basis of a complaint from the defense itself, it initiated the investigation folder number CI-FSP/B/UI/B-3C/19178/12-2019 in the Public Prosecutor’s Office for crimes committed by Public Servers, which continues to integrate.
“The alleged address of the second license does not even exist. It’s fake. Neither the street nor the colony exists in Alvaro Obregón. Different experts show it and we’ve already denounced it. The reality is that it is intended to attribute (rosario) a procedure that she did not do, which is false. And this is very dangerous because it means that anyone can be put in jail, anyone who goes to a hearing. Suffice it to say that you have another address and are accredited with an apocryphal license. And with that we put him in jail,” Epigmenio Mendieta said.
The trial that comes and the missing inquiry
The proceedings against Robles for the omissions attributed to him by the FGR are approaching the trial phase. After a year in which the investigation period was extended at the request of the defence and the pandemic, the mid-term hearing will be held at the end of September at which each party will present its evidence.
Prior to this and within 15 days of the conclusion in the third week of August, the FGR must submit the final indictment against Robles in writing. Then the defense will have a chance to answer it.
Once the above has passed, the case will be passed into the hands of a new federal judge who will convene the oral trial within sixty days. If found guilty, Robles could reach a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, after Judge Delgadillo doubled her crimes.
However, lawyer Mendieta said that they are not afraid to go to trial because they have sufficient evidence to prove that the charges of omission against Robles are not appropriate, since the law states that she did not have the power to prevent the signing of those agreements. In the event of an adverse outcome, he advanced that they will seek a cover.
What remains a question is the investigation related to the corruption network behind the diversions documented in The Master Scam and which, according to prosecutor Gertz Manero himself, represented practically a state crime.
Estefanía Medina, of the TOJIL organization, argued that from his perspective the results of the Prosecutor’s Office in the case of “The Master Scam” have fallen far short of what the investigations and allegations have shown, and what had been promised. “There has been a simulation of justice so far proceeding against a single visible character and with a very minor indictment,” he said.
Questioned on this same subject, Robles’ own defence held that the issue must be researched and proceeded against those they consider to be the real perpetrators of this embezzleer, as well as the fate of the diverted money.
“The scheme does have to be investigated and responsibilities delinfied, and the lost estate has to be compensated. May those who are responsible repair the damage. If the ASF finds that the work was not carried out, there are procedures to make up for that (…) And besides, where was the money? Who kept it? We have to get that estate back,” Robles’ defense attorney said.
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Original source in Spanish