Arturo Sánchez Jiménez Enrique Méndez and Fernando Camacho
La Jornada newspaper
Friday, February 21, 2025, p. 5
The Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) reported that in Public Account 2023 it is pending to clarify the destination of 51 thousand 900 million pesos; Of that amount, 80 percent correspond to states and municipalities. Only of the third partial report of the inspection of that year, delivered yesterday to the Chamber of Deputies, the irregularities total 43 billion, almost double that in the third report of 2022, when they amounted to 23 billion.
The opposition demanded that the auditor that ASF observations translate into actions, and David Colmenares said he has done his best to prevent irregularities. Morena and the work parties and Ecologist Green of Mexico supported the official.
The ASF presented to the Surveillance Commission the results of 1,623 audits carried out to the three powers, autonomous organisms and local governments.
In his speech, Colmenares Páramo attributed the increase in pending amounts to clarify, particularly in the states and municipalities, to the improvement of audit procedures and the use of information technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The audits presented by the ASF are added to the 746 that were delivered last June and October, for a total of 2,369.
Among the main findings, the report indicates that of the 43 billion pesos allegedly used irregularly, 22,700 million pesos correspond to the federative entities and 15 thousand 800 to municipalities and mayorships.
Meanwhile, in the federal public sector it is pending the destination of 8,599 million pesos; 80 percent of this amount corresponds to probable irregularities in biological and reagent laboratories of Mexico (Birmex), the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism, among other institutions.
Inconsistencies were also detected for more than 900 million pesos in 139 higher education institutions.
During this third stage of inspection, the ASF recovered more than 930 million pesos, for a total of 27 billion pesos returned during the management of Colmenares Páramo. This amount exceeds in 156 percent the budget granted to that institution.
In terms of forensic audits – which seek possible practices of corruption -, the ASF made 29 specialized reviews to historically not audited entities with this depth, including Liconsa, the National Institute of Migration, the IMSS and the National Institute of Transparency, access to the Information and protection of personal data, and identified that the destination of more than 6 billion pesos has not been clarified.
CDMX and Querétaro, without observations
The report also recognizes the performance of some federal entities in transparency and accountability. He emphasizes that Querétaro and Mexico City – then governed by the today president Claudia Sheinbaum – had no amounts to clarify.
Deputies of the Institutional Revolutionary Parties and National Action asked the auditor to initiate and follow up on legal and administrative procedures to sanction irregularities.
Given the criticism of opposition legislators, Colmenares said: We fulfill our work with absolute impartiality and attached to legality, and this is how we will continue to do so because we agree that the transformation of our country requires a deep commitment to honesty, accountability and justice
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