During the Third Individual Audit Report session held this Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies, the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) announced that the 2024 budget, the final year of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration, concluded with damage to the public treasury exceeding 65 billion 169 million pesos. Irregularities were mainly concentrated in state and municipal governments and were recorded in strategic sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, and the environment. David Colmenares, head of the ASF, presented the results to lawmakers and detailed that out of a total of 67 billion 174 million 717 thousand pesos in possible anomalies detected, slightly over 2 billion were recovered, leaving 65 billion 169 million 97 thousand pesos pending clarification. "Our goal is to guarantee that public resources are exercised with transparency and that each irregularity can be addressed in a timely manner," the body stated. At the federal level, audits identified irregularities amounting to 673 million pesos; among the most relevant cases, the Judicial Power failed to justify the use of nearly 284.5 million pesos, and the Secretariat of the Navy did not properly account for over 233 million. In the area of Social Development, irregularities totaled 1 billion 409 million pesos, distributed as follows: 585 million 754 thousand in Health, 231 million in Education, and over 225 million in Environment and Natural Resources. These findings reflect the concentration of irregularities in programs that directly impact the population. The subnational level, which includes states, municipalities, and other local entities, accounted for 54 billion 344 million pesos of the resources to be clarified, equivalent to 36% of the total. Colmenares pointed out that "more than 59% of this amount corresponds to audits of city halls and municipalities, whose main irregularity was the failure to provide documentation accrediting the destination of the use of federal resources." The ASF documented that many of these irregularities are related to the lack of administrative controls and the absence of clear records on the use of resources transferred from the Federation. The third delivery of the Public Account 2024 included 1,556 audits, of which 153 were financial compliance, 35 were performance, and 1,378 were decentralized federal spending. As a result, the ASF issued observation reports for 42 billion pesos and clarification requests for 12 billion. This audit, the auditor said, aims not only to identify problems but also to provide authorities with tools to correct the use of resources and strengthen accountability. Colmenares highlighted that the ASF maintains a preventive and corrective approach, aimed at enabling the audited entities to address the findings. "Each audit reflects a review process that seeks to make public administration transparent, ensure the correct application of resources, and provide citizens with information on how their taxes are spent," he added. However, the findings of the report show a consistent pattern: the resources most susceptible to irregularities are those destined for social programs, public works, and transfers to local governments. With the Third Individual Audit Report, the ASF concluded the audit of the Public Account 2024, which reflected the use of public resources during the last year of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration.
