The amount must be clarified by the audited entities or be returned to the public treasury or the federal public entities’ assets, states the audit.
MEXICO CITY (El Economista) – The Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) detected irregularities in spending for 67.498 billion pesos in the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government, according to the third delivery of the Public Account 2019.
This amount must be clarified by the audited entities or reinstated to the public treasury or the federal public entities’ assets. During the delivery of the audits to the Lower Congress, David Colmenares specified that 871 audits were carried out.
By functional group, the economic development -where the State’s production companies are located, and secretariats such as Agriculture and Rural Development, Tourism, Communications, and Transportation, among other sectors- had the highest amount of irregularities for a total of 31,572 million pesos.
In detail, it was observed that the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) presented irregularities for 22.331 million pesos, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for 4.576 million pesos, and the production companies -including Petróleos Mexicanos and the Federal Electricity Commission- had irregularities for 3,725 million pesos.
The next largest item was federalized expenditure, which refers to the resources that the government transfers to the states and municipalities by means of participation, federal contributions, subsidies, and agreements. The ASF detected that 43% of this amount was in federalized spending destined for education, i.e., the irregularities detected here amounted to 12,462 million pesos. Meanwhile, there were 11,179 million pesos irregular in federal participation.
He recalled that, in 2019, resources were transferred to states and municipalities for just over 1.9 billion pesos, which represented 32% of the total budget approved for that year. In the case of audits by a federal entity, in federalized spending, it was found that the most considerable amount of irregularities occurred in Jalisco, with 10,812 million pesos, followed by Morelos with 1,976 million and Tabasco, with 1,947 million pesos.
Welfare and Culture
In the social development functional group, the amount determined by the ASF as irregular was 6,512 million pesos. Within this category, the Ministry of Welfare had the largest amount of irregular resources, for 3,392 million pesos. This was detected in the “Sembrando Vida” Program, as well as in the Pension for the Elderly and people with disabilities, and the hiring of the so-called “Servants of the Nation.”
It was followed by the Ministry of Culture, with 1,719 million pesos for its financial management and the Program of Support to Culture; in the government functional group, the amount found was 479,054 million pesos. The Ministry of National Defense presented irregularities for 236,332 million pesos. This was found in the pre-investment studies to construct a “mixed civilian-military airport and construction of the Santa Lucia International Airport.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance had an amount of 115,207 million pesos. More than half of this amount (52%) was found in Financiera Nacional de Desarrollo Agropecuario, Rural, Forestal y Pesquero.
