The former governor of Chihuahua, César Duarte, faces a host of accusations that have led to the issuance of at least 21 arrest warrants—20 local and one federal—against him, as well as his most recent detention on Monday, December 8. Duarte, who governed the entity from 2010 to 2016 and was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) until his expulsion in 2019, has been identified as the alleged mastermind of a corruption network that caused a multimillion-dollar embezzlement from the state treasury. The charges cover a wide range of financial, electoral crimes and the improper use of public office powers. Official and journalistic investigations indicate that Duarte may have embezzled over one billion pesos in public funds and a total embezzlement from the treasury of up to six billion pesos. Specific charges include embezzlement, which was the main driver of his extradition in 2022 after the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office detected a state public debt of 48 billion pesos. He is also accused of criminal association and, more recently, money laundering or operations with illicitly sourced resources. The outlet Animal Politico revealed that the FGR began an investigation file in 2021 for an unexplained enrichment amounting to 190 million pesos. Duarte is accused of diverting around one billion pesos from the state treasury in the so-called 'Secret Payroll' case, which would have been used to pay bribes to legislators and politicians from various parties, public officials, union leaders, and the media. Duarte was also denounced and investigated for the so-called 'Operation Sapphire,' a alleged mechanism for channeling federal resources to finance PRI electoral campaigns in several states, as well as the diversion of 250 million pesos for the party's campaigns in 2015. Additionally, he has been accused of the alleged creation of a bank with public resources and the securitization of highway bonds without legal basis, charges related to irregular financial management of the state debt. Various investigations indicate that the diversion of public funds likely had an electoral and political co-optation purpose. The resources were allegedly diverted through sham contracts for the purchase of various supplies such as artificial insemination equipment for cattle, heifers, transportation, and livestock feed.
