Acquitted, 5 scientists accused by FGR and Conacyt

Federal Judge Gregorio Salazar Hernández, attached to the Federal Criminal Justice Center in the State of Mexico, resolved on January 13, 2023 to order the dismissal of the criminal proceedings in favor of five of the 31 scientists investigated by the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) for organized crime, money laundering and corruption crimes.

They are Julia Tagüeña Parga, José Franco, Gabriela Dutrénit Bielous, Teresa de León Zamora and Marcial Bonilla Marín, who after 16 months of proceedings received notice of dismissal which, according to the National Code of Criminal Procedures, has the same effects as a sentence acquittal

This means that the Public Prosecutor’s Office can no longer investigate and accuse them of the same facts, let alone the Judiciary to bring criminal proceedings against them or convict them.

As reported by the defenders, from the criminal law firm Del Río y Moreno de Leija, this is the same judge who on September 21, 2021 refused to issue arrest warrants against the 31 scientists, stating that the facts investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office did not they can be analyzed in the light of criminal law, and therefore, they are not criminal.

Said criminal process began with complaints filed by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), in which it accused an alleged illegality in the allocation and management of public resources granted to the AC Scientific and Technological Advisory Forum (FCCyT), which was consulting body in scientific, technological and innovation matters for the federal government, provided for in the Law, but the crimes were not proven.

Doctors Tagüeña and Dutrénit were general coordinators of the FCCyT, doctor Franco, served as president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences from 2012 to 2014; Teresa de León Zamora, Master of Science in Technology Commercialization, was director of Technology Commercialization at Conacyt and Marcial Bonilla was academic secretary of the Potosí Institute for Scientific and Technological Research.

Now, what will happen to the other researchers mentioned? Due to the fact that each process is carried out individually, for the moment, the investigations against the other 26 remaining investigators are still ongoing. Among them are still the general director of Conacyt from 2013 to 2018, Enrique Cabrero, members of the Consultative Forum and former Conacyt officials, both researchers and administrative staff.

The Conacyt faces amparo lawsuits

In parallel, the Conacyt has registered in the Subdirectorate of Judicial Processes a total of 685 amparo lawsuits filed by workers, researchers and members of the scientific community. Of these, 288 are pending, 386 before various collegiate courts awaiting the resolution of the main appeal for review, 4 in compliance with the final judgment and in 7 trials the appeal for disagreement was processed.

Through the request for information number 330010922000956, through the National Transparency Platform, it is detailed that in the period from 2018 to date, the Council led by María Elena Álvarez-Buylla presents various disagreements on the part of the community; Among the main reasons for amparo are administrative causes that have to do with changes to the Regulations of the National System of Researchers (SNI), salary reductions, postgraduate scholarship debts, cancellations of renewal of SNI agreements, as well as refusals. to endorse agreements with researchers belonging to private universities, cancellation of medical services and non-payment of benefits, poorly carried out processes are added on a dismissal as a researcher due to accusations of plagiarism and self-plagiarism.

Among the demands, the case of Dr. Erick Heredia Olea, from the Tecnológico de Monterrey, who was removed from the SNI accused of plagiarism and self-plagiarism; however, he managed to refute the decision made by the SNI Board of Honor. Other notable cases are the lawsuit by Dr. Rossana Reguillo, a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, emeritus researcher at ITESO in Guadalajara, for changes to the SNI Regulations; and that of the biochemist Francisco Bolívar Zapata, member of El Colegio Nacional, for salary reduction.

This last case is in the status of “Pending the resolution of the appeal for review”, because although it began in 2019, it requests “the suspension against the claimed acts” to the President of Mexico, the Chamber of Senators and the Chamber of Deputies.

The Legal Affairs Unit also detailed information on 10 cases in which it does not require data from the Court or entity where they continue their course; thus, there is also one more case in which there is no data for the consultation of public information, but reiterates that it has an impact throughout the Republic.

The lawsuits are filed mainly in Mexico City, with the largest number, with 275 amparo proceedings, followed by Puebla, with 229, Jalisco, with 94, Baja California, with 20, Yucatán (16), Nuevo León (14), Guanajuato (7), Sinaloa (4), and Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Chiapas, with at least three cases per state.

nelly.toche@eleconomista