The spending of over 3 billion pesos (US $159 million at the time) from the national disaster relief fund Fonden in 2017 was administered imprecisely, lacked transparency and suffered irregularities, according to an internal report by the Secretariat of the Interior.

The analysis looked at 10 disaster declarations in which funds were granted to rebuild roads, water, marine, tourism and education infrastructure.

Seven of the declarations were issued in the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca in the aftermath of a hurricane and a series of earthquakes. The OIC also found “imprecise follow-up and supervision of activities related to the allocation [of funding]” because the governments of both states failed to follow new rules.

Before that update, Fonden regulations established that the federal and state governments each contributed 50% of the funding required to rebuild damaged public infrastructure.

The new rule dictates that the Fonden Technical Council must approve the percentage of federal contributions to the disaster relief fund.

The OIC probe found that all 32 states failed to follow the new procedure.

Source: Milenio (sp)