Selection Process for the FGR Control Body in Progress
The Surveillance Commissions of the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) and Transparency and Anti-Corruption of the Chamber of Deputies have formally begun interviews with the candidates for ownership of the Internal Control Body (OIC) of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic (FGR). This procedure, of crucial importance for institutional supervision and transparency, was established through an agreement approved with 44 votes in favor. This legal instrument stipulates that the candidates’ appearances will take place on September 18 and 19, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Protocol Room of building A, in the San Lázaro legislative precinct.
The legislators who are members of these joint commissions have a deadline until September 22 to deliver the evaluations corresponding to the interviews carried out. This tight schedule underscores the urgency and meticulousness required in a process of this magnitude, intended to designate the highest internal control authority within the country’s main law enforcement institution.
Applicants and an Unexpected Loss in the Process
According to the information provided by deputy Ricardo Mejía Berdeja (PT), who chairs the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Commission, the call process received a total of 22 registration applications. However, the rigorous scrutiny of the established requirements determined that only 18 candidates met the required criteria to continue in the race. The panorama was complicated by a significant drop, reported by deputy Javier Herrera Borunda (PVEM), president of the ASF Surveillance Commission. The legislator reported that a formal communication was received by email from Eduardo Loria Casanova, one of the 18 pre-selected, expressing his express and voluntary withdrawal from continuing to participate in the election process, thus reducing the number of finalist candidates.
Attempted Cyberattack on the Selection Process Portal
A cybersecurity incident added a layer of complexity to the already delicate process. Deputy Herrera Borunda revealed that on September 11, at 04:50 a.m., the monitoring systems detected and effectively contained an attempted breach directed against the official website that housed all the information related to the FGR OIC selection process. The legislator was emphatic in clarifying that “the site was never compromised” in its entirety, but that the event must be specifically classified as an attempted denial of service (DDoS) attack. The purpose of the malware identified was to overload, saturate and collapse the system servers, with the ultimate objective of preventing access and registration of citizens interested in the process, an act that seeks to undermine the transparency and publicity of the call.
Background of the Applicants: Reports of Nepotism and Corruption
A detailed analysis of the applicants’ profiles, carried out through an exhaustive review of public records, reveals a worrying history among some of the finalists. Several of them, who have served as former comptrollers in top-level institutions such as the National Transparency Institute (INAI), the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), the FGR itself and various local courts, are facing public accusations for alleged practices of corruption and nepotism.
One of the most notorious cases is that of Claudia Lorena Martínez Jiménez. In 2022, she was appointed general commissioner of the investigative police of the state of Aguascalientes, a position of high responsibility. However, in March of the following year, she was suddenly dismissed from her duties after being linked to an investigation for alleged acts of corruption during her administration, which significantly taints her service record.
Another profile that generates skepticism is that of Esther Castellanos Polanco. Previously, she served as director of Citizen Attention and Asset Evolution in the Internal Control Body of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). During her tenure in office, she was publicly accused by Institute workers of having obtained it through a clear act of nepotism, alleging that her appointment was the product of a direct recommendation from her brother, the former Morenoist deputy Favio Castellanos, which raises serious doubts about the meritocratic mechanisms.
The list is complemented by the nomination of Sergio Eduardo Amaro Cervantes, a criminal lawyer whose name is inextricably linked to a high-profile family link: he is the nephew-in-law of Raúl Cervantes Andrade, who was head of the then Attorney General’s Office (PGR). Precisely, this relationship was the center of a controversy in 2017, when Amaro Cervantes joined the Specialized Deputy Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime Investigation (SEIDO) under accusations of nepotism, alleging that his hiring was facilitated by his family connection with the then attorney.
This set of circumstances—an attempt at cyber sabotage, the defection of a candidate and accusations against several candidates—paints a complex picture for a process that should be exemplary in terms of transparency and ethics. The appointment of the next head of the FGR OIC is not only crucial for the internal surveillance of the institution, but has become a litmus test for the credibility of the selection mechanisms for senior officials in Mexico.
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