In Nuevo León, 3,089 investigations were initiated this year by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office; only 2% were prosecuted: IMCO

Monterey, NL. The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Combating Corruption New Lion, in 2022 it has a level of compliance with the country’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutors as regular. Although it has 3,089 investigations initiated, only 89 have been determined, 1,117 determined by temporary file, 54 judicialized, that is, 2%, three linked to a trial and one with a conviction.

This is indicated by the study “Let’s raise the voice of the Anticorruption Prosecutors”, carried out by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) y THEREFORE. Information requests were made through the National Transparency Platform, according to the document.

In the first edition of this report in 2020, the state had 281 investigations initiated, of which 33 were determined, another 50 were determined by temporary filing, two were prosecuted, there were investigations linked to process in 2 cases and 1 conviction.

New Lion, Mexico City y Jalisco determined the largest number of investigations initiated through temporary filing. This type of determination is given for cases where there is not enough information to clarify the facts or the person who participated, “but it is not suitable in cases of possible acts of corruption since it does not resolve the cases,” the study stated.

Nuevo León has 3,089 investigations initiated and 1,117 determined through temporary filing, which represents 36% of the investigations.

The investigation of IMCO y THEREFORE It consists of four axes: legal framework, resources, human capital, processes and results.

Nuevo León complies with the legal basis for its creation, it has an autonomous prosecutor, an Organic Law, however, it does not have internal regulations, nor a protocol for the investigation of corruption crimes, nor protection to prepare personnel for hearings. .

The study recorded data from 25 states, of which those that do not have an autonomous Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office are: Aguascalientes, Chiapas, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Morelos, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas, “which implies a risk in impartiality and objectivity insofar as the prosecution of crimes depends directly on the state prosecutor,” the study stressed.

On the other hand, none of the state prosecutor’s offices reported has protocols to prepare personnel for hearings. “This can affect the performance of public servants during hearings and prevent the resolution of cases,” she emphasized.

According to the level of compliance in the allocation of resources for the Nuevo León Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, it went from regular to deficient, between 2020 and 2022 and does not have budgetary independence.

“The lack of resources has a direct impact on the operation of the prosecutor’s offices, without money they cannot carry out their work, they cannot open or pay places or carry out investigations or expert reports,” the report stressed.

Conclusions

“Although the Anti-Corruption Prosecutors are a central axis of the institutional framework that makes up the local anti-corruption systems, the federal entities have not been able to consolidate themselves so that they can prevent, investigate and, where appropriate, penalize those responsible for any act of corruption. ”, highlighted the report.

IMCO y THEREFORE indicate that the national panorama is not encouraging, most of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Offices do not meet the minimum requirements for their operation, because the authorities concentrate on carrying out reforms and adaptations to create the institutions, beyond pursuing the objectives of is.

In general terms, “the lack of basic regulations for the operation of these institutions persists; most depend on what the State Attorney’s Offices do or do not do; they are conceived, to a certain extent (in some cases much more evident than others) as an area within the attorney general’s office and not as an independent and autonomous institution”.

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