“If someone reports officials close to the governor, no institution investigates,” said an indignant Jesús Pacheco Arango, who a year ago filed a criminal and administrative lawsuit against the head of the Secretariat for Agricultural and Rural Development Promotion of the State of Oaxaca (Sefader) and other high-level officials for corrupt practices in the management of a social program for farmers.
Jesús Pacheco Arango, former general coordinator of Sefader, claims to be a witness to the diversion of 137 million pesos in the agency, in addition to pointing out cases of kickbacks, payments to ghost companies, freeloaders and front men for high-ranking officials of the Oaxacan agency. He reported it, with threats from one of those involved, and even offered the evidence to the authorities, but the investigation is frozen, he told ejecentral.
“I wonder if it was right to report or if I just made everyone an enemy and got into trouble (…) No institution has done anything to date. On November 27, it will be a year since I filed my complaint and, well, nothing has been achieved. All those denounced remain in their positions; there has been no justice. I am frustrated and, well, if it is like this here, it is surely like this throughout the country; it seems that the entire system is rotten,” he said.
According to the complaints, a copy of which this media has, Pacheco Arango accuses Víctor López Leyva, secretary of Sefader; Mario Robles González, undersecretary of Agribusiness, and Eusebio Atanacio Morga Herrera, coordinator of Projects of the Agribusiness Program of the Oaxacan agency, of the irregularities.
“I entered as general coordinator of the Agribusiness program (between March and June 2023), aimed at small producers and farmers, where the subsidy can be up to two million pesos in a non-refundable amount, that is, the farmer does not have to return it. What I began to see was that there were phantom projects within the official list of approved and approved projects. What is happening with those millions of pesos? Well, they were keeping them, because those who really approve those projects are the undersecretary and the secretary,” he said.
After identifying “phantom projects,” he said that he detected that the undersecretary benefited from public resources by approving two projects whose beneficiaries were his front men. In addition, he found technicians who were supposed to do field work, but they turned out to be freeloaders and people close to Secretary Víctor López Leyva.
“And the secretary told me: ‘No, well, do whatever you want. If you want, file a complaint in other instances; in any case, I am a very good friend of the prosecutor. ’ In other words, as if he were telling me that he would not be able to do anything to them,” said Pacheco Arango.
In this regard, he said that Eusebio Morga, coordinator of the project, threatened him, so he also filed the corresponding complaint. The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Corruption of the State of Oaxaca granted him protective measures for 90 days: “Surveillance at the home of the victim or offended party and immediate assistance by members of police institutions to the home where the victim or offended party is located or is found at the time of requesting it.”
Ghost company
Pacheco Arango highlights that one of the most solid pieces of evidence he has is the hiring of a ghost company that supposedly provided professional consulting services for the Agronegocios program. The firm was hired by orders of the head of the Sefader through direct award for 29.9 million pesos.
The Sefader officials assure that Pacheco Arango was hired by that company, but he denies any link with the firm.
“In the company’s resume there are photographs and there are two desks. They made the facade, but really that company does not offer those services. Nobody was hired by a company; We were all hired directly by the director of the Secretariat, Mr. Adalberto García Pérez, whom I also reported. I began to suspect because my payments were not made to me at the Secretariat, but at a private address, without receipts, in cash,” he explained.
Pacheco Arango has an agreement dated February 20, 2023, which justifies the direct award to the company. The Secretariat is based on section X of article 46 of the Oaxaca Procurement Law, which allows the exception of public bidding when “it involves consulting, advisory, study and research services whose dissemination could affect the public interest or compromise information of a confidential nature for the state.”
Round and round
The Oaxacan has filed a complaint with the State Honesty Secretariat, the State Prosecutor’s Office, the Public Service Secretariat, the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) and even sent a letter to former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He claims that they only bring him “round and round.”
“The Public Service Secretariat referred me again to the Honesty Secretariat of my state and, well, basically they did nothing (…). At the ASF it is a very, very cumbersome process and they have sent my complaint back to me three times to make corrections. Supposedly it is not mandatory to go in person, you can do it through the website, but that does not work; it does not let you upload the evidence,” he indicated. The last instance he will turn to will be the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, but he fears that he will be sent back to his state, leaving unpunished the alleged acts of corruption committed by officials, who, he said, are close to the governor of Oaxaca, the Morena member Salomón Jara.
Source: ejecentral
