The governor of Michoacán only has one full day left in office, but is set to leave without explaining the use of 3.65 billion pesos (about US $178 million) in federal funds, the federal auditor (ASF) said.
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) Governor Silvano Aureoles is believed responsible for 19 separate cases involving the questionable uses of federal money. The ASF alleges embezzlement.
Another 4 billion pesos (about $195 million) in credit is also missing, incoming Morena Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said. Aureoles took out the loans in December, allegedly for public works projects. The loans represent debt for the new state government.
The largest single unexplained use of federal money was for more than 1.1 billion pesos, supposedly spent by the state Finance Ministry on software maintenance, advertising, consulting, technological services and “monitoring systems.” The ministry did not present evidence of the contracting process.
Another unexplained expenditure was 852 million pesos supposedly paid to the Health Ministry, the public relations department and educational institutions.
The third largest irregularity found by the ASF was for over 370 million pesos, of which a large proportion was never used, but nor was it returned to federal authorities.
Morena Deputy Hirepan Maya Martínez accused Aureoles of corruption and links to organized crime in the state Congress Tuesday. “That’s how it is in Michoacán. We have drug trafficking governors, like the outgoing one, who has plunged our state into corruption … this misogynist, corrupt drug trafficker, outgoing governor,” he said.
Aureoles wrote on social media to defend his record. “Six years ago I took on the challenge of governing Michoacán … I know that there will be those who do not recognize that there was a before and after, and that Michoacán has changed, but I leave with a clear conscience because I was true to my word and I risked my life for Michoacán,” he said.
