Many corruption complaints against federal government employees come to nothing, according to a report by the newspaper El Universal.
In the almost two years since President López Obrador took office, the Public Administration Ministry (SFP) has filed 513 complaints with the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in relation to irregularities and possible acts of corruption committed by federal public servants.
However, there is no evidence that a single case has been heard by a court, El Universal reported Monday.
Documents obtained by the newspaper via a freedom of information request showed that in April and May, the SFP filed 296 complaints against current and former officials with the State Workers Social Security Institute (ISSSTE).
The offenses allegedly committed included bribery, embezzlement, robbery of medications, influence peddling and the improper payment and acceptance of salaries.
According to the SFP, none of its complaints in relation to those offenses has been assigned to a federal judge despite the FGR having received them five to six months ago.
Among the other complaints that don’t appear to have been acted on are four against employees of the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) and seven against workers of the Federal Protection Service (SPF), a government security agency.
The complaints against the Semarnat employees were filed between July 2019 and February 2020 and related to sexual harassment accusations.
The complaints against the SPF workers related to death threats, irregularities in a 2018 tendering process, psychological torture of other employees, alteration of official documents, attempts to steal digital information and the unjustified handcuffing and locking up of a subordinate.
The SFP indicated that it has no information about the FGR’s progress in investigating the alleged wrongdoing by the Semarnat and SPF employees.
President López Obrador has made combatting corruption a central aim of his administration and has declared repeatedly that impunity will no longer be tolerated.
However, some independent studies show that corruption has in fact worsened since the president took office in late 2018, and that the probability of a crime in Mexico being reported, investigated and solved remains extremely low.
Source: El Universal (sp)
