The “Legislative Scam”: Impunity pact in times of the 4T?

The state of Sonora and its dynamics in relation to the issue of security and energy policy are of enormous relevance for the development and future of Mexico in a new geopolitical era. In this context, it is very important to consider power relations at the local level and the links between state authorities, the federal government and the business sector, both national and international. The development of mining in this strategic state is key. The use of lithium and rare earth reserves, as well as the issue of water—its access and the development of potential desalination processes—will give much to talk about in the coming years.

Therefore, the focus on local dynamics and politics in the state is of vital importance. Sonora is a key entity in Mexico that has enormous potential, but it also faces significant challenges in terms of violence perpetrated by organized crime groups, the advance of foreign interests and transnational corporations, and above all in regards to to the issue of corruption and impunity. In my personal task to better understand the dynamics and challenges for the Sonoran economy and society, I came across a fundamental report that uncovers a rotten sewer of apparent corruption and a major scam against the Sonoran people that has received almost zero attention.

I am referring in particular to the so-called “legislative scam” that has been masterfully covered and investigated with great professionalism by the Sonoran journalist Aarón Tapia, who has given this major robbery constant monitoring on his Radio program (https: //www.youtube.com/@aarontapia3395) and in two magnificent reports for the SinEmbargo.mx portal. In effect, said medium, from the beginning, opened a space at the national level for this journalist to publicize his important findings.

The relative silence on the part of local and national media (traditional and alternative) in the face of what I consider a great scandal in Sonora is very striking. This seems to reflect the impunity pacts that may have existed and are still in force in the state, as well as a mafia scheme that would not surprise it also applies to other entities in the country. The lack of interest in such a key issue in almost all the Mexican media is really surprising. Likewise, the phenomenon in question seems to involve a large number of actors who agreed to their impunity with the current state and federal government of the so-called “Fourth Transformation” (4T).

The matter is not minor. On the contrary, it is of the greatest relevance and Aarón Tapia has already done the investigative work to open the issue to public opinion. Now it is our duty to make it known and demand accountability from past and present authorities, who “feign insanity” and seem to have agreed to hide a major scam on the people of Sonora, now perpetrated by the legislature. We are referring here to an alleged millionaire embezzlement that, according to data from the authorities themselves and various complaints, represented close to 50 percent of the total annual budget of the Sonora State Congress in 2021 (which amounted to approximately 814 million 899 thousand 710 pesos ).

The embezzlement occurred through the item “Social Aid”. Of the 463 million pesos (mp) accrued in this item in 2021, a total of 419 million pesos (equivalent to about 91 percent of the total) were revised. Finally, “the documentary evidence of the receipt of the acquisitions of goods was not accredited, nor the evidence… that [avalan] the delivery of the assets to their alleged beneficiaries for 398 million 625 thousand 376 pesos, that is, 95 percent of the revised total.” In other words, we do not know where those resources went, to whom they were delivered, and we have not seen the list of beneficiaries. This alleged legislative scam, in just that year (2021), exceeds the Master Scam in its passage through Sonora through Telemax (state television) which was 312 million pesos.

In the 2020 Public Account of that same local congress, the same modus operandi and similar anomalies are also observed. This was denounced at the time by the deputy Ernestina Castro Valenzuela, coordinator of the MORENA bench. The relevant amounts are scandalous. As reported by Aarón Tapia, in the years 2019 and 2020, “the budgets used in the Social Aid item were 65 million 106 thousand 148 pesos and 340 million 539 thousand 675 pesos, respectively” (see https://www.nevertheless. mx/09-10-2022/4265472). In this last year, said budget increased by 423 percent. It is important to mention that the corresponding amounts and their execution were approved by the Administration Commission and the Internal Regime and Political Coordination Commission (CRICP) of the Sonoran congress.

It should be noted, as previously stated, that to date it has not been possible to prove the acquisition of goods, nor the registry of beneficiaries where it is stated that the corresponding resources were actually delivered. In relation to the Public Account of 2021, the supervisory body of the state of Sonora, the Superior Institute of Audit and Fiscalization (ISAF) observed that the documentary evidence of the receipt of the acquisitions of goods was not certified, nor the evidence to prove the delivery of the goods to their alleged beneficiaries

In the mafia scheme analyzed by Aarón Tapia, “11 companies would have been used, 10 of them recently created front companies, with uninhabited homes, others completely abandoned and, in some cases, homes that do not even exist. The same happens with the addresses of the alleged owners of these companies, one of them linked to deputies of this legislature.” Tapia visited the registered addresses, one by one, and was able to document the alleged presence of shell companies with photographs and testimonies. The work of the Sonoran journalist is commendable and fascinating. The peculiar names of some of these companies stand out, such as: Cifras Disparadas, SA de CV, Tripto Éxito, SA de CV and Fresco EAA, among others.

Regarding the public accounts of the Congress of the State of Sonora in 2019 and 2020, Tapia tells us how ISAF did not make pertinent observations to the item that concerns us, but detected that it was the same 11 companies (10 ghosts) that invoiced in 2021, the year in which the ISAF did register the anomalies. It is then argued that the execution of the budget in the same item as in the other years was carried out through the same modus operandi and with the same supplier companies. It is surprising that we still do not know for sure the real destination of the resources.

According to calculations presented by the journalist Aarón Tapia in his research work, in the three years of the LXII Legislature of the state of Sonora (2018-2021), and in the time of Governor Claudia Pavlovich, it is possible that more than 800 million pesos (mdp) through item 44101 of “Social Aid” (from chapter 40000 of “Transfers, Assignments, Subsidies and Other Aid”).

Tapia also does an excellent job detecting possible actors linked to the alleged scam, which include administrators, as well as members of that legislature and others who now occupy important political spaces linked to the party in power—including influential figures in Sonoran politics. currently and those deputies who were re-elected. In summary, the work of Aarón Tapia is extremely relevant, since he detects the main operators of this supposed scam and the main lobbyists before the deputies.

In this scandal, which cannot be minimized in any way—and which apparently has been sought to be silenced and hidden—the behavior of the supervisory body yesterday and today stands out. It is worth noting, especially, the role of Jesús Ramón Moya Grijalva, ISAF’s Senior Auditor from 2017 to early 2022. According to Tapia’s investigation, “the now former official has been identified as the creator of the entire framework of the ‘Legislative Scam’ ‘ when he served as Director General of Administration in the Sonora State Congress from 2004 to 2017” (see https://www.sinembargo.mx/19-03-2023/4337817). It is important to highlight that Moya Grijalva, during his tenure as Senior Auditor, did not apply the corresponding observations to the public accounts of the congress, as did the office manager, Karla Ornelas, who succeeded him in office.

In a second installment for the Sinembargo.mx portal, Aaron Tapia tells us how Jesús Ramón Moya Grijalva, has been “pointed out and exhibited in various journalistic works for his omissions of observations in the different dependencies of the state government, municipal governments, in the judiciary and the State Congress itself”, as well as its closeness to PRI governments. And as if that were not enough, he tells us how said character “has had 8 prior investigations and inconsistencies in his asset declaration as a public servant, according to the file of the Attorney General of the State of Sonora (FGJE) to which he had access [el] reporter”. Moya Grijalva has been investigated for generic fraud, abusive exercise of functions, improper exercise of public service, breach of trust, improper use of powers and powers, breach of legal duty, embezzlement, and even vehicle theft.

Impunity pact in times of the 4T?

Despite the scandalous nature of this plot, as well as the magnificent investigative work by Aarón Tapia, the irresponsible, or rather complicit, silence of many other journalists and the apparent overlapping of this major robbery by the current government of sound. Governor Alfonso Durazo has not “effectively” expressed himself in this regard. In addition, as mentioned above, of the 33 deputies of the last legislature (LXII 2018-2021), Ernestina Castro from MORENA was the only one who directly declared that she had not received money for “social aid” and accused in plenary session, in the discussion of the review of the public accounts of 2020 and 2021, the apparent perpetration of this scam. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in recent months—and especially since all this embezzlement became known to the public through Aarón Tapia’s report—Castro seems to have suddenly remained silent.

In the current Congress of the State of Sonora, the case of “legislative fraud” seems to be a taboo subject. Nobody talks about him in public. Only the Movimiento Ciudadano deputy, Ernesto de Lucas, in a press conference urged Governor Alfonso Durazo to order the clarification of this scam. Likewise, in the framework of the press conference that the governor gives weekly, he was questioned by the activist Aldo Castro for the silence that has been kept. And even so, the situation of inaction in the face of this apparent robbery continues. The Sonoran governor, heir to the 4T, does not seem to have any political will to push for the pertinent investigation to be carried out and the responsibilities of those who may be guilty are felt.

It is also important to mention that the vast majority of the media in Sonora seem to be gagged when it comes to this issue. One might then think that they were very clearly marking a line by arbitrarily canceling Aarón Tapia’s broadcasting and publicity agreement that he had with the State Congress—apparently, for bringing up this issue. Currently, Tapia is suing the Sonora State Human Rights Commission for what he considers a clear action to inhibit journalistic practice through economic punishment.

It is also very important to highlight that, apparently, the current ISAF Senior Auditor, Beatriz Huerta, has overlapped this legislative scam; she has failed to file the corresponding complaints and has not agreed to give an interview to talk about the subject. What is more, the ISAF, in a very suspicious manner and violating the control and transparency laws, recently downloaded from its internet portal, all the documentation referring to the individual report of the financial audit of the Account Pública 2021 of the Sonora State Congress—which until recently could still be consulted on that portal.

In other words, all the information referring to the “legislative fraud” was downloaded from the ISAF website, that is, the individual reports of the financial audits where the observations to the State Congress can be appreciated due to the non-existence of documentary evidence of the receipt of the supposed goods acquired or that which accredits the delivery of the goods to their supposed beneficiaries. At the same time, all the information from the 2020 Public Account regarding this alleged scam was reserved for two years.

Apparently, there is an impunity pact operated by the government of the state of Sonora to cover up the frauds of administrative and political officials who disappeared public resources in the government of Claudia Pavlovich. This impunity pact seems to be clear since the former governor of Sonora was appointed Consul of Mexico in Barcelona by the government of the so-called Fourth Transformation. Some in Sonora think that the “impunity pact” was operated from the National Palace and this extends to the issue of the aberrant “legislative scam” that nobody wants to cover and everyone prefers to forget. In our case, we do not forget it because it is a scheme that could well operate in other local congresses.

We congratulate the journalist Aarón Tapia for a laudable job and we urge other media to follow up on this important report. We are surprised by the complicit silence of politicians from all parties and the local and national media on this issue that we consider to be of the greatest importance. In this sense, we are disappointed with the role that the current government of Sonora and the MORENA party have taken at the local level; In other words, the inaction and lack of position of the 4T government in general on this issue is disappointing.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we are still confident that this scandalous matter will be clarified as soon as possible. In other words, we hope they take action on the matter. The issue of the Sonoran “legislative scam” seems to be immoral and repugnant and, therefore, we will not cease in our attempt to do justice and communicate what happened in various spaces. We trust that we can find the channels to denounce what appears to be a large-scale scam against the people of Sonora.

Note: We thank the SinEmbargo.mx portal and the #EnContacto with Rubén Luengas space for disseminating this highly relevant work at the national level and for not maintaining a complicit silence about an apparent obscene phenomenon that could well spread to other spaces and regions of the country. To them, all my appreciation and thanks. It is possible to find many more details about the “Legislative Scam” in the following notes, on Aarón Tapia’s YouTube channel and in an episode from a couple of weeks ago on the #EnContacto program with Rubén Luengas. Links to this information can be found here below.