The federal government’s super-delegate in Guerrero is improperly promoting his role in the delivery of social programs to improve his chances of success at the state’s next gubernatorial election, claims a Morena party lawmaker.
The newspaper Reforma reported Tuesday that federal Deputy Rubén Cayetano will file a complaint against Pablo Amílcar Sandoval with the Ministry of Public Administration (SFP), whose boss is the Guerrero delegate’s sister, Irma Sandoval.
Both Pablo Sandoval and Cayetano have aspirations to be Morena’s candidate at the 2021 gubernatorial election in Guerrero.
To support his complaint, Cayetano said he will deliver a video to the SFP that shows another federal welfare official promoting Sandoval to seniors.
The video shows Bernardo Aguilar Burgos, an official with the senior citizens’ pension program, telling the audience at an event in Ajuchitlán del Progreso to remember the name of Sandoval, who as the government’s super-delegate is responsible for the delivery of federal social and welfare programs.
“The person directly responsible for all the social programs in the state of Guerrero is Pablo Amílcar Sandoval. Now do you know who he is? Let’s see, what’s his name?” Aguilar asks the dozens of senior citizens present at the event in the state’s Tierra Caliente region.
On several occasions, the officials asks his audience to repeat Sandoval’s name, presumably with the hope that it springs to mind when they are at the ballot box next year.
“Our delegate is looking after the mission of our president, [ensuring] that all the social programs reach the beneficiaries directly without intermediaries,” Aguilar tells his audience.
Making senior citizens say Sandoval’s name and thank him for their pensions “as if they were paid from his pocket” is a “despicable” affront to the pensioners’ dignity, Cayetano said. He added that the unashamed promotion of Sandoval is a threat to democracy.
The deputy previously filed a complaint with the SFP against another federal official in Guerrero who was also allegedly promoting Sandoval. However, the SFP declined to carry out an investigation and instead referred the complaint to the Welfare Ministry.
Sandoval, who has previously served as a lawmaker in the state, is also in the spotlight for allegedly failing to declare a property he owns on his personal assets declaration.
Reforma reported Monday that the super-delegate failed to declare a large home and property he bought in the resort city of Acapulco in 2010. Sandoval denied the claim and accused the newspaper of publishing fake news.
“Nothing was hidden, the property is declared and my wealth hasn’t grown. … Reforma lied, it didn’t do its journalistic work. It’s a pity that it doesn’t have the courage to accept its error,” he wrote on Twitter.
Despite the denial, Irma Sandoval has an obligation to launch an investigation into her brother’s wealth, said Senator Juan Zepeda, president of the upper house’s anti-corruption committee.
The SFP is the government department responsible for verifying that officials’ asset declarations are in order.
Zepeda acknowledged that the public administration minister has a “serious conflict of interest” but said that she has no option but to investigate her brother for the alleged omission on his assets declaration.
“It will be very interesting because she’s his sister,” the Citizens Movement senator told Reforma.
“Let’s see if she sanctions her brother, if she … summons him … to clarify the purchase of the property. Let’s see what they invent because they’re clever,” Zepeda said.
Irma Sandoval, who with her husband reportedly own property worth some 60 million pesos – a claim she denies – is required by law not to make any public comment about cases in which she has a personal interest, Reforma reported.
However, she retweeted her brother’s denial that he failed to fully declare his assets as well as his announcement on Twitter that he would hold a press conference to “refute” Reforma’s “libel.”
Source: Reforma (sp)
