Alejandro Gertz Manero, Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), stated at the morning conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum that they are close to detaining the former governor of Michoacán, Silvano Aureoles Conejo. According to Gertz Manero, the investigation involving the former governor and four other associates has been ongoing for some time and was recently able to be judicialized by the Prosecutor's Office after facing several procedural obstacles.
In relation to this case, an arrest warrant was issued against Silvano Aureoles Conejo on March 2nd. He is accused of crimes such as embezzlement, money laundering, fraudulent administration, and organized crime. The arrest warrant is due to alleged irregularities in the construction of seven state police barracks for an amount of 5 billion 186 million pesos, which were supposedly reported as leases.
According to information from state and federal sources, the detention of the former governor and some of his collaborators was ordered by Judge Patricia Sánchez Nava of the Reclusorio Oriente. The investigation is handled by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Combating Corruption of the FGR, and originated from a complaint filed in 2021 by the Morena governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, who pointed out anomalies in the direct assignment of the construction of the mentioned barracks.
The state government indicated that the construction company left the works unfinished and abandoned. Previously, on March 1st, the FGR detained several former collaborators of Silvano Aureoles Conejo, including Carlos Maldonado Mendoza, Mario Delgado Murillo, Elizabeth Villegas Pineda, and José Antonio Bernal Bustamante, for their alleged participation in the case.
