The Jalisco Prosecutor General’s Office (FGE) has been undermined by a “web of corruption,” the state government admitted this week that.
Having received 164 complaints in August alone, the FGE has identified and dismissed at least 14 public servants for engaging in corrupt practices in recent weeks and is instigating criminal investigations against another 31 suspected of wrongdoing.
“What concerns us is that there is a web of corruption and that web of corruption has to be broken. The attorney general, Luis Carlos Najera, has made that very clear,” Jalisco’s Secretary General Arturo Zamora said on Tuesday. Those fired include prosecutors, clerks, secretaries, police investigators and even judges “who deliberately committed crimes while carrying out their duties,” Zamora said.
Two of the most high-profile offenders were judges in Puerto Vallarta and Lagos de Moreno, who stand accused of illegally releasing suspected criminals. The FGE has requested that Jalisco courts dismiss the pair, Zamora said, on the basis that “they improperly released kidnappers, murderers and members of organized crime. The law is very clear, these are crimes against the administration of justice.”
This week an agent from the Ministerio Publico office in Lagos de Moreno was arrested for extortion. Jose Efrain Plascencia Tejeda, 35, was accused of demanding 200,000 pesos from a local shop and garage owner, who he allegedly threatened to arrest for selling stolen goods and links to organized crime.
The victim could only raise 100,000 pesos and said that Plascencia had his businesses closed down because he had not paid the full amount. The victim then filed a complaint with the FGE, which had Plascencia arrested as soon as he received another installment of 50,000 pesos.