After citizen complaints, a public servant tasked with
promoting development programs in Mexico City (Programa
de Desarrollo Humano Oportunidades) has been detained after an
investigation determined that he was demanding money for inclusion in
social programs.
This was a complex operation, involving three other
organizations: the Attorney General’s office (Procuraduría General de la
República, or PGR); the office for Internal Control (known as the Órgano Interno
de Control, the OIC is tasked with evaluating federal government services);
and the federal Ministry for Public Affairs (Secretaría de la Función Pública,
or SFP, which is mandated to consolidate a government that is “honest, efficient,
and transparent”.
In a press
release, the SFP stated that complainant reported that the public servant required
her to pay five thousand pesos (US $358). This would allow her and her neighbours
to then get access to social services.
Apparently the bureaucrat indicated that similar deals had
been in play for other low-income citizens and residents of Iztapalapa,
in Mexico City.
The public servant was detained in a restaurant in Mexico
City shortly after having received 2,000 pesos (US $143) from the complainant
as partial payment of the full bribe. He has since been transferred for criminal
proceedings as part of an investigation into the bribery charge, and is under
the authority of the Attorney General’s office for the Federal District (Mexico
City).
This may seem like very small beer, given the size of the problems
presently faced by Mexico. However, petty corruption at the local level is
rarely addressed in Mexico, and the fact that citizens successfully reported the
incident, with the fair and open co-operation of numerous government bodies, is
cause for some cheer.
Twitter: @TimothyEWilson
Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com
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