Four Chiapas Health Officials Arrested for Embezzlement and Abuse of Authority

Four officials from the Chiapas Institute of Health have been arrested on charges of illegal exercise of public service and abuse of authority. The arrests stem from an investigation into irregularities in the institute's budget management, which uncovered a "lack of comparative analysis reports, absence of economic and suitability assessments, and a scarcity of documentary evidence for services rendered," according to Chiapas Prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca.

Last month, the institute's head, Omar Gómez Cruz, was dismissed. Among the four detained officials are Rosario Esmeralda Coutiño Roblero, who previously served as director of Health Infrastructure and held political positions in Tapachula, and Sindar Rodrigo, Cleofas, and Soneli, identified as head of material resources, director of general services, and material resources staff, respectively.

The investigation, conducted with the cooperation of the Secretariat of Anticorruption and Good Government and the Superior Audit Office of the State, is ongoing to determine if more officials are involved in the alleged embezzlement of public funds. Llaven Abarca stated that the four arrested individuals are now in the custody of a judge.

In a separate but related case, two officials from the Chiapas Institute for Education for Youths and Adults were arrested for embezzling funds from the "Chiapas Puede" program, aimed at combating illiteracy. Investigators found 2,500 beneficiary registration sheets during searches of their homes, indicating that funds were allocated but not disbursed to participants.

“

lack of dictámenes de cuadros comparativos, ausencia de dictámenes económicos y de adecuación, carencia de evidencia documental de ejecución física de servicios, insuficiencia de documentación y soporte comprobatorio de diversas acciones que se llevaron a cabo