Alvaro Cordoba Perez is accused of taking more than 326 million pesos ($US21 million).
Cordoba Perez was in charge of the Seguro Popular program during the governorship of Emilio Gonzalez Marquez. The state comptroller detected irregularities in the management of funds and he was detained on Wednesday, February 11.
The news is a blow to the local reputation of the Seguro Popular scheme, the ambitious government-funded program that helped Mexico achieve universal healthcare in 2012.
Arrest warrants are out for three other officials as part of the same operation. In a radio interview, Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval accepted that there had been “theft.”
Cordoba Perez is the third former official to be detained since 2013.
The ex-director of Guadalajara’s water utility, Rodolfo Ocampo Velazquez, is behind bars for diverting funds from an International Development Bank (IDB) loan.
On Monday February 9, former Congress secretary Luis Octavio Perez Pozos was arrested for alleged fraud. Authorities descended on the accused as he spoke at a press conference.