The Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) has begun the process of expelling three governors from its ranks over corruption allegations.
Governors Javier Duarte de Ochoa, César Duarte Jáquez and Roberto Borge Angulo, of Veracruz, Chihuahua and Quintana Roo, respectively, have all faced serious allegations of corruption during their administrations, which will end in October. The three PRI governors will all be replaced by governors from the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN).
PRI political advisor Armando Barajas Ruíz requested that the PRI’s internal justice mechanism suspend the membership rights of the three members immediately due to the complaints against them by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and the Federal Auditing Agency (ASF). If the allegations are proven, Barajas Ruíz requested that the PRI definitively expel the three governors.
In the case of Veracruz, the PGR has registered 32 complaints of contracts with shell companies, which are often vehicles for fraud, during Duarte de Ochoa’s tenure as governor. There are also 26 investigations open for misuse of federal funds.
In Quintana Roo, the ASF is investigating the 16.7 billion pesos ($900 million) of federal money that went to Quintana Roo in 2015.
In Chihuahua, the ASF has received 17 complaints against the government of Duarte Jáquez.