Municipal governments in Tabasco misappropriated government funds totaling over 1.1 billion pesos (US $56.3 million) in 2018, according to a report by the state auditing agency (OSFE).

The report, presented this week to the state Congress. found that 13 of Tabasco’s 17 municipalities could not account for all their expenditures for 2018.

The four municipalities for which the OSFE did not find irregularities were Comalcalco, Cunduacán, Emiliano Zapata and Tenosique.

A new cohort of Tabasco mayors took office on October 4, but most of the misappropriated funds correspond to the first nine months of the year, before they took office.

The municipality of Macuspana, the birthplace of President López Obrador, was the biggest offender with 355.7 million pesos of unexplained spending during the year. More than 90% of that spending took place on the watch of former mayor José Eduardo Rovirosa Ramírez of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Rovirosa has been battling allegations of theft from government coffers since shortly after he took office in 2016. According to the comptroller of Macuspana, Rovirosa’s government paid for infrastructure projects that were never carried out. He also renamed a street in the municipality after his wife, and another after his son.

Rovirosa was forced to resign from the PRI in 2017. Federal and state prosecutors are currently investigating at least 16 criminal complaints against him.

Meanwhile, mayors, ex or otherwise, must clarify the irregular spending by December 15. If the spending is not explained, the mayors could face criminal charges..

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Heraldo de Tabasco (sp)