During Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term, La Estafa Maestra operated, a system of corruption in which government agencies, public universities, state media and ghost companies disappeared billions of pesos of public money. Four years after that, with a new government and despite the operation of an autonomous prosecutor’s office and the opening of dozens of investigation files, the case remains unpunished.
Although investigations have been opened and criminal proceedings initiated against 12 former officials, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has limited its accusations to minor crimes – mainly linked to omissions of these former public servants – but has not made any accusations about the diversion of resources.
So far, nothing is publicly known about the final destination of the diverted money, about who allowed the irregularities or about the final beneficiaries.
Rosario Robles, the only cabinet official investigated, was accused of the crime of “improper exercise of public function in its modality of omission”, because, according to the FGR, the former secretary did not inform her hierarchical superior, then President Peña Nieto, about the millionaire diversion of public resources while she was head of Sedesol and Sedatu.
Robles spent three years in preventive detention and, last August, he left the Santa Martha Acatitla prison – at the request of the FGR – to continue with his criminal process in freedom. Meanwhile, the first acquittal against a former rector was issued this November, under the argument that the man had been accused of an administrative offense and not of the criminal order.
The scheme of The Master Scam consisted of 11 federal government agencies making agreements with eight public universities for 7 thousand 670 million pesos, between 2013 and 2014, to make supposed services, ranging from purchase and distribution of half a million pantries in the poorest municipalities of the country to interventions in oil wells, digitization of documents or search for illiterate people.
Read more: The Master Scam: Graduates in disappearing public money
This occurred thanks to the use of the exception in Article 1 of the Law on Acquisitions, Leases and Services of the Public Sector, which regulates purchases with federal resources; This exception allowed tenders to be replaced by agreements between government entities for the performance of some type of service, without being subject to the rules of the aforementioned law. In this case, the universities were the “contracted” entities, but the services had nothing to do with their substantive work of education or research.
The universities, in turn, subcontracted up to 98% of the amount of the contracts – which contravened the limitation of article 1 of the Procurement Law itself and article 4 of the Regulations of that same law, which established a maximum of 49% of subcontracting with third parties – and through 186 companies that turned out to be illegal or phantom and, Therefore, public money disappeared and services were not done.
Article 4 of the Regulations of the Procurement Law states: “For the purposes of the sixth paragraph of article 1 of the Law, a dependency, entity or person governed by public law that functions as a supplier shall be considered to have the capacity to deliver a good or provide a service by itself, when to perform the contract it does not require entering into another contract with third parties, or, if required, this does not exceed forty-nine percent of the total amount of the contract concluded with the public entity. If the contract is made up of several items, the percentage will be applied for each of them.”
At least a hundred officials of the dependencies and universities that signed the agreements were directly involved in the whole plot, but they were also considered the heads of the dependencies and senior officials because, according to the law, they had the responsibility of administering and monitoring the correct application of the resources and the functioning of the respective institutions. as well as having the obligation to administer with efficiency, effectiveness, economy, transparency, honesty and impartiality the resources destined to the acquisition of goods and services 1. In turn, the law provides that, in the case of contracting consultancy, consultancy, studies and research services, the expenditure for such contracting requires the authorization of the head of unit 2.
The promise of an investigation
The Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) filed the first six criminal complaints for this case against Sedesol and the universities of Morelos and the State of Mexicoco, in October 2015, for alleged irregularities in the use of public resources and the exception of Article 1 of the Procurement Law.
It is for these complaints that the FGR initiated judicial processes against minor officials involved and, in 2018, investigation folders began to be opened that advanced until 2019.
At the end of 2018, the organizations Tojil and Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity filed a criminal complaint for the diversion only in Sedesol, because it was the dependency with the second most important amount among the 11 dependencies and that the destination of the resources was the beneficiaries of social programs. the poorest people in the country.
The crime they accused was bribery, which would force the authority to follow the route of the money in the judicial investigation and, in addition, they assumed themselves as victims under the thesis that society was a victim of corruption, since they were public resources. The latter would allow them to have access to the investigation folder, but after a few months, the FGR limited them, stopped recognizing them as affected parties and then definitively left them out of the case.
That was the complaint that the FGR used to initiate a process against Rosario Robles, whom it accused of the crime of “improper exercise of public function” and who was summoned to a hearing in August 2019.
Months earlier, on January 24, 2019, the new prosecutor, Alejandro Gertz Manero, reported that La Estafa Maestra would be investigated as organized crime. “The hypothesis of collusion to organize a huge looting from power should have been investigated from the beginning and it will be necessary to restructure everything from the perspective of organized crime and that possibly everything was covered up by the State,” he said then.
However, the FGR did not open a global investigation that looked at The Master Scam as a grand organized crime scheme. The derived cases have been treated in isolation, investigating only the participation of former officials in specific agreements, in a signature or in a procedure in a university, without considering the complete plot.
Robles, three years in prison without trial
Rosario Robles was the only former Secretary of State to face a judicial process, accused of the crime of “improper exercise of public function”, due to omissions, by not preventing the diversion of public resources through the signing of agreements between Sedesol and Sedatu with public universities and state radio and television media.
She was summoned to a hearing on August 9, 2019 for the crime of “improper exercise of public function.” Although this crime does not merit unofficial preventive detention, Judge Felipe de Jesús Delgadillo Padierna – nephew of former legislator Dolores Padierna – decided to impose this precautionary measure on Robles in a “justified” manner, after the FGR argued an alleged “flight risk.” Therefore, she was transferred to the Santa Martha Acatitla prison on August 13, 2019.
Among the main considerations presented by prosecutors was a driver’s license allegedly located by the National Center for Planning, Analysis and Information to Combat Crime (Cenapi), the intelligence agency of the FGR, in which Robles documented an address different from the one he registered for his location before the judicial authority.
This, said the judge, meant a decisive discrepancy to be located and, therefore, there was a risk of flight; In addition, he pointed out a contradiction of his defense about the reason for the trip abroad in which the former official was when he received the summons, since a lawyer said it was for vacations and another for a course. Robles also had no roots in Mexico City because he was unemployed at the time and had a “network” of friends who could help him escape.
In September 2020, the Secretariat of Mobility of the CDMX (Semovi) confirmed the existence of a single legal license, and acknowledged that an “alleged illegal use” of the procedure allowed the falsification of a second document.
The defense challenged the precautionary measure of imprisonment through an amparo that was resolved on December 17, 2019 by Judge Isabel Cristina Porras Odriozola, of the Third Unitary Court in Criminal Matters of the First Circuit, who resolved, in criminal court 385/2019-NS, that in the decision taken by Judge Delgadillo Padierna there were inconsistencies and violations of human rights, the presumption of innocence and due process.
However, the magistrate did not revoke the preventive detention or modify it by another milder measure, such as home protection or the use of an electronic locator, but only asked Robles’ defense to go again before Judge Delgadillo Padierna toRequest you to review your decision on the imposition of the precautionary measure.
In January 2020, he filed a new amparo before that resolution to achieve the change of precautionary measure, which was admitted for processing by Judge José Alfonso Montalvo Martínez, head of the First Unitary Court in Criminal Matters, who granted the suspension only for the effect that Robles remains at the disposal of the court.
Judge Delgadillo Padierna, responsible for linking the process and ordering the preventive detention of the former secretary, was rotated to the position of “administrative judge” of the Federal Criminal Justice Center of the South Prison, a responsibility in which, due to the nature of the position, he dealt with administrative procedures in said center, without conducting any hearing. He was therefore excluded from the case as of January 2020.
The new judge in the Robles case, Ganther Alejandro Villar Ceballos, determined in a hearing held on February 5, 2020 that the precautionary measure of preventive detention against the former secretary be maintained, considering “unfounded” the request of the defense to change the measure of preventive detention for the use of an electronic bracelet.
One of the judge’s arguments for dismissing the defense’s request was that, in previous hearings, his legal team said that Robles’ only address is 91 Las Flores Street, in Coyoacán, and that day he admitted that he also lived in an apartment at Reforma 222 and Tennyson 223. in Polanco.
Meanwhile, on February 24, 2020, the First Unitary Criminal Court of the First Circuit decided to annul the amparo trial against the justified preventive detention measure. “The amparo proceedings brought against the acts complained of consisting of the resolution of December 17, 2019 (…) that confirmed with clarifications and qualifications, the imposition of the precautionary measure of justified preventive detention, ordered in the continuation of the initial hearing of October 22, 2019, in the criminal case, “says the resolution.
In September 2020, the FGR requested 21 years in prison against Robles, based on an indictment for alleged omissions built with 288 pieces of evidence, more than 60% of them extracted from previous work carried out by the ASF.
The formal accusation presented by the FGR before a federal judge after a year of investigations offered as main witnesses the auditors who investigated possible diversions of resources in Sedesol and Sedatu in 2013 and 2018, including former senior auditor Juan Manuel Portal and former forensic auditor Muna Dora Buchahin.
The FGR also offered the judge copies of the agreements, the background of proceedings initiated against other lower-ranking former officials and 13 compact discs with PowerPoint presentations.
According to the FGR, the alleged omissions incurred by Robles allowed a diversion of 5,073,358,846 pesos from the treasury. Although the prosecutor responsible for presenting the accusation acknowledged that she is not charged with the diversion as such (in the investigation there is no work of monitoring bank accounts or properties), she is asked to return the money, the latter, as part of the reparation of the damage to the treasury.
In November 2020, the FGR obtained 11 arrest warrants against former federal officials, a former rector and alleged shareholders of shell companies, for the crimes of money laundering and organized crime. These orders were requested by the Deputy Attorney General Specialized in Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO), as part of the investigation folder FED/SEIDO/UEIORPIFAM-CDMX/0001220/2019.
This folder was initiated from a complaint by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) filed in September 2019, and has been complemented by the review of at least one of the agreements that Sedesol signed last six years and that are part of the scheme described in The Master Scam.
However, in that complaint, with the official number 110/142/2019, the UIF did not find irregularities in Robles’ bank accounts, but in the finances of Emilio Zebadúa, who had been a senior officer of Sedesol and Sedatu. However, the FGR did not request an arrest warrant against him.
On March 29, 2021, the hearings of the intermediate stage of this process concluded, in which both Robles’ defense and the prosecutors of the FGR offered their list of evidence with which both parties would seek to win an eventual trial. However, the opening of that trial has not been ordered, derived from the fact that the defense of the former secretary, as stated by her lawyers, seeks to obtain a criterion of opportunity that avoids being prosecuted.
In June 2021, the Third District Judge in Amparo Matters, Augusto Octavio Mejía Ojeda, ruled that Robles’ rights were violated by A justified pretrial detention was ratified in April 2020 without other alternative measures such as home protection being properly assessed.
This ratification took place in a hearing to review the precautionary measure that the defense lawyers of the former secretary had requested, in which they argued that the preventive detention issued to Robles since he voluntarily appeared before the judge in August 2019 was disproportionate and unjustified.
The defense maintained the above after it managed to prove that the prosecutors of the FGR had supported the request for preventive detention in false documents, such as a driver’s license with a different address that the former official never processed.
However, despite the fact that this evidence was distorted, Judge Ganther Villar Ceballos ratified the preventive detention justified with other arguments, such as that he could obtain resources from third parties to try to evade justice.
The FGR and the ASF challenged this amparo, but in July 2021 the magistrates of the Ninth Collegiate Court ratified it, remaining firm.
Magistrates Ricardo Paredes Calderón, Emma Meza Fonseca and Juan Carlos Ramírez Benítez established that the decision to extend the preventive detention issued to Robles, as part of his process related to La Estafa Maestra, violates Article 16 of the Constitution.
This article states that no one can be disturbed by any authority unless there is a “well-founded and motivated cause”. “The act complained of (the judge’s decision not to modify pretrial detention) violates Article 16 of the Constitution which establishes that any act of nuisance must be duly founded and motivated,” the court said.
In October 2021, the judge responsible for the criminal process against Robles decided, again, to maintain the measure of preventive detention against the former official for three reasons: that she did not reveal from the beginning the houses in which she lived in the past, that her defender contradicted himself about the reason for his trip abroad that he made before being summoned and that his lawyers said that they did not have a document that was He had handed them over.
Robles filed a new amparo lawsuit against the decision of Judge Villar Ceballos in November 2021, which was resolved days later by federal amparo judge Augusto Mejía Ojeda, who annulled the preventive detention and ordered that a hearing be summoned to define whether to keep her in prison or release her.
The judge pointed out that the instruction given to Judge Villar Ceballos to justify the reason why he had to remain in prison or, where appropriate, change the precautionary measure was not complied with.
On December 30, when the hearing ordered by Judge Villar Ceballos was held, he reiterated that measure, so the former secretary continued to be held in Santa Martha Acatitla.
Finally, on the night of Friday, August 19, 2022, Robles was released because the FGR “assessed the state of health of this person and the security measures that guarantee his presence in the process, so he asked the Control Judge for his consent to modify the precautionary measure of justified preventive detention,” As explained by the Prosecutor’s Office itself in a statement.
Along with the accusation he faces for the crime of misuse of public office, Robles faces another for organized crime and money laundering. However, thanks to an amparo, so far he has managed to stop an arrest warrant against him for this cause, according to the newspaper The Country. This means that for these crimes there is still no criminal process opened against Robles.
Emilio Zebadúa, the former senior officer, makes accusations
Emilio Zebadúa is the official who administered the resources of Sedesol and Sedatu when the diversions occurred, but he has managed to evade the formulation of accusations for “improper exercise of public service” included in the same investigation folder that kept Robles in prison.
Although the UIF investigated the finances of Robles, Ramón Sosamontes, Zebadúa and their brothers, only the latter report expenses of 205 million pesos that are not commensurate with their income.
José Ramón Zebadúa is the legal representative of Emilio Zebadúa and, although he did not report employment and income to the SAT, he has bought properties in the United States and has made millionaire payments to credit cards. Lourdes Zebadúa, who also has no job, has spent millions of pesos in casinos, an activity considered risky because it is used for money laundering.
In addition, Emilio Zebadúa appointed his brother José Ramón as his legal representative; This, without registering the origin of his income, bought four properties in the United States valued at 1 million 131 thousand dollars.
This amount does not correspond to whats income of none of the three, which “makes it likely that Emilio Zebadúa received various amounts of cash for the commission of acts of corruption, since no other justification is found in the conduct of a public servant,” says the complaint of the UIF.
However, none of the Zebadúa brothers was included in the SEIDO investigation folder, nor are they among the 11 people with arrest warrants.
After the investigation of the UIF, Emilio and Lourdes Zebadúa obtained a provisional suspension so that their property would not be touched. The appeal was granted by the Third District Court based in Tapachula, Chiapas, the same one that for a year stopped any legal action against the former senior officer, and whose secretary of agreements was already suspended for six months by the Council of the Federal Judiciary (CJF), after the body determined that he acted irregularly by granting an amparo to businessman Alonso Ancira arguing that the accusation of laundering of money against him had expired when it was not.
The amparo lawsuit was filed on May 31, and that same day the court admitted it and filed it under file 229/2020; a day later, he granted the Zebadúas the provisional suspension that remains in force until now. The hearing to determine whether or not to grant the definitive suspension has since been postponed 18 times, due to delays in sending the information requests to the authorities.
According to court records, the court has opted to use traditional mail and even telegrams to request information from the FGR in Mexico City, but on several occasions the addresses provided have not been correct.
In 2021, Zebadúa sought a criterion of opportunity before the FGR, which is not known if it was concretized, so he made a ministerial statement in which he accused Robles and Luis Videgaray as responsible for The Master Scam, in addition to other minor officials, but without providing any evidence.
A former rector involved achieves acquittal
On the other hand, the first acquitted of the case was Juan de Dios Nochebuena Hernández, former rector of the Francisco I. Madero Polytechnic University of Hidalgo, who had been accused of improper use of powers and functions in an agreement made with Sedatu, in 2015, for 185 million 839 thousand 480 pesos.
The control judge of the North Prison, Gustavo Aquiles Villaseñor, constituted as a trial court, issued an acquittal after the process against him initiated in 2018, as reported by the newspaper Reform. The judge determined that the accusation against Christmas Eve was administrative and not criminal, as the FGR had maintained. This, because he accused him of failures during the hiring, but, according to the defense, the contracted services were performed. For the judge, the FGR could not provide evidence to show that this had not happened and that the former rector participated in any corruption scheme.
Zebadúa’s right hand
Enrique Báez, former director of Programming and Budget of Sedesol and Sedatu, as Zebadúa’s direct subordinate, was the official who was responsible for the access codes to the system of the agency that administers the budget. His signature allowed the exit of public resources from both agencies.
He was accused in 2019 of the crime of “improper exercise of public service” for the agreement of 185 million pesos between Sedatu and the University of Hidalgo Francisco I. Madero. However, Judge Fernando Payá Ayala decided not to bind the process to consider that the FGR did not present the minimum sufficient elements to sustain the crime, a decision that the prosecution did not appeal.
In addition, since February 2019, he filed six amparos to delay the judicial process. The first amparo number 617/2018 was processed by Báez on July 31, 2018, only to know if there was an arrest warrant. This process ended on September 17 of the same year with the dismissal of the amparo, that is, the judge ended the process because he did not find causes that justified the action.
On November 30, 2018, he processed amparo number 1051/2018 arguing “the omissions to summon him to appear in his capacity as accused to let him know about the accusation, the evidence or elements that exist against him”, as part of the investigation folders FED/SEIDF/UEIDCSPCAJ-MOR/0001408/2017, FED/SEIDF/UNAI-CDMX/0001929/2017 and FED/SEIDF/UNAI-CDMX/0000011/18.
This allowed the judge to grant him a provisional stay on December 5, 2018, by which he obtained the suspension of the incidental hearing scheduled for December 11, 2018.
The amparo 1062/2018 was ifiled on December 3, 2018 and terminated on January 11, 2019, for “incompetence due to prior knowledge”; This was dictated by the judge when considering the existence of two previous amparos where he argues that he had not been notified to appear at the hearing. This resolution allowed him to “set aside” the hearing scheduled for January 23, 2019.
On November 30, he claimed in amparo 1050/2018 “acts out of trial”, for not having notified him of an initial hearing set for November 29, 2018, where the formulation of charges would be made in criminal case 444/2018.
However, on December 5, 2018, the Third District Judge of Amparo in Criminal Matters in the CDMX, Augusto Octavio Mejía Ojeda, dismissed the amparo considering that the appointment to the hearing “did not cause damage in the sphere of rights of the complainant such as the right to liberty or any other, because the power exercised by the control judge when summoning him to carry out the initial hearing does not involve the analysis of the criminal acts or the probable participation of the accused in their commission, since it simply represents a notice that he must appear before the jurisdictional authority. ”
On December 4, he again filed an appeal to find out if there was an arrest warrant against him, but this time in the Fifteenth District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters of the CDMX; he declared himself incompetent and, on January 30, the Executive Secretariat for the Creation of New Organs ruled that the amparo corresponded to the Third District Court in Criminal Matters in Mexico City.
Meanwhile, amparos 24/2019 and 27/2019 filed on January 10, 2019 also claimed the omission to summon Báez to appear as an accused, as part of the investigation folder FED/SEIDF/UNAI-CDMX/11/18 and the FED/SEIDF/UEIDCSPCAJ-MOR/0001408/2017.
In parallel to the criminal charges, administrative proceedings were conducted.
In December 2018, the Ministry of Public Function (SFP) determined a fine of 158 million pesos and disqualification for 10 years for “the omission to unduly allow an extension of resources for more than 158 million pesos to be requested, supposedly to grant additional subsidies and immediately attend to the beneficiaries of the Rural Housing Program, which manages the National Trust Fund for Popular Rooms (Fonhapo); However, this extension was illegal and its use and destination were not proven.” However, in 2021, the Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA) annulled the fine and disqualification.
Enrique González Tiburcio accuses forgery of signatures
He is the highest-ranking former official with judicial proceedings against him. In 2018, thanks to requests for information, he and his subordinate, Armando Saldaña, discovered that there was a general agreement and two specific ones between Sedatu and the University of Hidalgo Francisco I. Madero, but in which they did not recognize their signatures.
Both informed Robles and his senior officer, Zebadúa, who responded that they would investigate and solve it. However, González Tiburcio and Saldaña reported to the Internal Control Body and later to the FGR for the falsification of signatures.
In January 2019, González Tiburcio went from whistleblower to accused. He was accused of falsifying a statement and linked to the process because the judge considered that he lied when he assured that the signature was false, since his defense and the expert in charge of the analysis were wrong to present their study and failed to prove the inconsistency of the signature.
For this case, the judge imposed as a precautionary measure to go to sign every 15 days to the North Prison since 2019. In December 2021, another federal judge linked him to a second criminal process for the crime of “improper use of powers and powers”, for the same agreement with the Francisco I. Madero University that caused a loss to the public treasury for 185 million pesos.
In this second case, the main evidence was the ministerial statement of Zebadúa, who – seeking a criterion of opportunity – made a statement before the FGR in which he accused González Tiburcio of participating in the diversion of resources, without providing any evidence.
Armando Saldaña, former general director of Territorial Planning and Attention to Risk Areas of the Sedatu and subordinate of González Tiburcio, also denounced the falsity of his signature in the agreement that establishes the payment of 185 million pesos to the Autonomous University of Hidalgo.
Despite having proven the falsity of his signature, he was linked to the process accused of “improper use of attributions and faculties”. Saldaña is also subject to prosecution for false statement, according to the newspaper. Reform.
Others noted
Juan Manuel López Arroyo, former head of Planning and International Relations of Sedesol, He was linked in two processes by an agreement with the Polytechnic University of Texcoco and the University of Nezahualcóyotl, both for “improper use of attributions and faculties” for improperly contracting the services to both universities that did not mean the best conditions for Sedesol.
His argument is that the services were carried out and that indeed his area did not have sufficient budget to pay for both agreements, but the Main Office was the only area capable of distributing resources among the dependency.
José Antolino Orozco, former general director of Geostatistics and Beneficiary Registers of Sedesol, He was linked to the process for the crime of “illicit use of attributions and faculties” for the signing of an agreement for 77 million pesos with the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos.
She achieved time thanks to the fact that she sought a criterion of opportunity and declared that Rosario Robles was aware of the irregularities of the agreements and that in October 2018 she received the message that “everything was arranged and she did not worry”, allegedly said by her and communicated through Emilio Zebadúa, an element that the prosecution has used to sustain Robles’ omission to stop the irregularities.
However, he was linked to the process and entered the North Prison in September 2021. Eight months later, he was prosecuted for an arrest warrant obtained by the SEIDO, derived from the investigation folder FED/SEIDO/UEIORPIFAM-CDMX/0001220/2019 for the crime of organized crime and money laundering against him and 10 other people, including Rosario Robles.
For this crime, which merits unofficial preventive detention, Simón Pedro de León Mojarro, former coordinator of state delegations of Sedesol, is a fugitive.
For this investigation folder, Luis Antonio “N”, alleged shareholder of one of the shell companies that received public resources allegedly diverted, to which allegedly diverted resources would have been transferred, was arrested and transferred to the Altiplano prison. Meanwhile, María de la Luz “N”, former deputy general director of Integration of Registers of Sedesol, was detained in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation 16, female, in Morelos.
Wendy Gabriela Arrieta Camacho, former Director of Information and Communication Technologies at Sedesol, was linked to the process for the crime of illicit use of attributions and faculties in November 2021 by the agreement signed between Sedesol and the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos.
The rectors
Alejandro Vera Hernández, former rector of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, He was linked to the process for the crime of embezzlement against the university for 450 million pesos, resources of the federal subsidy delivered to the university, which he used to pay a bank loan from the institution.
Due to the agreements signed with Sedesol denounced by the ASF, the TFJA resolved in 2019 that Vera was probably responsible for the diversion of 239 million pesos of public resources from the agreements.
He is also among 11 people accused of money laundering and organized crime who have an arrest warrant.
Noé Molina Rusiles, former rector of the Technological University of Nezahualcóyotl, He was linked to the process for the crime of “improper use of attributions and faculties”, for the signing of agreements with Sedesol amounting to 300 million pesos. He continues his trial in freedom with the limitation of not leaving the country.
Salvador Lara, former rector of the University of Zacatecas, was linked to the process since 2019 for the probable diversion of public resources from the agreements signed with Sagarpa and the institution. He alleges the falsification of his signature and has denounced and delivered evidence to the FGR and the UIF about the office that created the shell companies in Zacatecas, and has pointed to Nicolás Castañeda, former director of strategic projects of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, as allegedly responsible for the operation.
According to Lara, lawyers sent by the Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Enrique Peña Nieto proposed a joint defense with Castañeda, but he refused to recognize any participation in the scheme, so, unlike the other former official, in the last four years, he has faced obstacles to prove his innocence.
In 2021, questioned about the issue at a press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would ask the Interior Ministry to meet with Lara to learn about the information he says he hasIrregular reuse of resources.
* This report was made possible by partial support from the U.S. Department of State and the Pan American Development Foundation. Its content is the responsibility of Animal Politico, in collaboration with Mexico Evaluates, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of State or the Government of the United States or the Pan American Development Foundation.
1 Article 24 of the Law on Public Sector Acquisitions, Leases and Services.
2 Article 19 of the Law on Public Sector Acquisitions, Leases and Services.
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