MEXICO CITY – So that they do not repeat cases like that of the former first lady of Baja California, Branda Ruacho de Vega, which seems more like an act of impunity than justice, Senator Nancy Sánchez Arredondo proposed reforms to the Federal Penal Code so that those who divert public resources do not achieve preparatory freedom and take their trial in prison.
During the virtual session of the Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union, the legislator presented the initiative with a draft decree that reforms Article 85, to incorporate the crime of embezzlement and prevent preparatory freedom for public officials, including with honorary positions but that manage public resources.
Likewise, the document provides that the sanctions established in article 223 will be complied with without this implying avoiding imprisonment for compensating the damages caused, as established in article 30 of the Penal Code.
The senator of the Parliamentary Group of Morena pointed out that with this we will guarantee two things: Recover the diverted resources, force compliance with criminal penalties against those officials who affected the integrity of the population through acts of this type and prevent those citizens who hold honorary positions and who use or decide on public resources go unpunished for acts of this nature.
“The execution of a sentence that requires serving time in prison and also to compensate the damage, will serve to send a strong message against corruption and mark a milestone for this Legislature and this administration.
“With this we will be able to eradicate acts of diversion of funds that affect more population, especially the most vulnerable segment of the population, such as boys, girls, single or abused mothers, among others,” says the proposal that took turns the United Commissions of Justice and Legislative Studies, First of the Senate
The initiative specifies that one of the acts that most harm Mexicans has to do with the embezzlement of funds, the diversion of resources and illicit enrichment at the expense of the federal budget.
Unfortunately, he warns, these types of crimes are more serious when they affect vulnerable groups such as children with cancer, indigenous peoples and communities, women victims of violence, peasant groups, migrants, as well as those programs managed by the National System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) directly and its equivalent in the states.
In the document, Senator Sánchez Arredondo cites the case of Brenda Ruacho de Vega, wife of the former PAN Governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, who, during her honorary position as president of the state DIF System, collected donations for social welfare for the construction and operation of a Family Farm that he never handed over to the State DIF, illegally retaining them through personal accounts.
However, remember, at the end of April of this year the former first lady, reached an agreement to repair damages with the State Attorney General’s Office to return 6.8 million pesos for having made diversions of resources destined to the DIF, towards personal accounts, affecting mothers and children of the entity.
It indicates that currently the Federal Criminal Code establishes the conditions by which the officials who have incurred in the diversion of funds for illicit enrichment, can free themselves from their criminal responsibility through agreements with the Prosecutor’s Office in order to compensate the damages.
“Therefore, no matter the amount of funds that one deviates as a public official or honorary servant, as long as they have enough to compensate the imputed damage, the culprit may free the prison and avoid any other penalty that merits for having incurred in acts of corruption, particularly in cases of diversion of funds.
“In other words, having sufficient resources to recover or” pay for the damages caused “is more than enough for the guilty to remain free, while the affected population continues without receiving support or transfers through the resources. that the State transfers through different programs or actions ”, he emphasizes in the proposal.
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