Colmenares removes the auditor of the Peña Nieto airport from his position, although he says there was no "bad faith" in his report

David Colmenares, in a file image Gallo Cañas / Cuartoscuro

Focus of criticism during the last week, David Colmenares, head of the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF), has appeared this Monday before the Surveillance Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, the body in charge of controlling the performance of the supervisory body.

Colmenares has insisted that there was no "bad faith" in the preparation of the report on the cost of cancellation of the airport promoted by the last government of the PRI.

Despite this, the auditor in charge of the report, Agustín Caso, has been removed from his position while the incident is being investigated.

Colmenares has reported that a new team of auditors is already working to "get a correct figure" of the cancellation cost.

The scandal jumped last Monday, just two days after the ASF delivered the last batch of reports on the public account of 2019, the first year of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

In his morning press conference, the president criticized the content of the reports, specifically the one that refers to the cost of canceling the aerodrome.

In their estimate, the auditors indicated that abandoning the project would entail an expense of 331,000 million pesos, 16,550 million dollars, about 200,000 million more than expected.

López Obrador, promoter of the cancellation, rejected the figures and a few hours later, the ASF itself recognized "methodological deficiencies" in its estimate.

López Obrador returned to the subject throughout the week, even pointing out "bad faith" in the work of the auditors.

From Morena's benches in Congress, deputies and senators assumed the president's broadside, demanding an investigation into what happened.

On the opposite side, the opposition criticized the president's interference in the activity of the autonomous entity, more in a difficult year in his work due to the covid-19 pandemic.

In any case, they all agreed to point out to Colmenares that, paradoxically, he received majority support from the Chamber of Deputies when he was elected in March 2018.

In the midst of the storm, the House Surveillance Commission convened the work table with Colmenares for this Monday.

Although this is a regular meeting after the ASF's regular delivery of results, it usually takes weeks for the commission to schedule it.

This time it was only a few days.

Unlike other work groups, the case of the PRI airport has monopolized the session, which lasted just over two hours.

Colmenares has arrived at the chamber accompanied by his special auditors, Emilio Barriga and Gerardo Lozano.

The senior auditor has reported that Lozano, in charge of the financial compliance area of ​​the ASF, commands a special group of auditors who review the methodology and the case numbers of the aerodrome.

In his initial intervention, the senior auditor mentioned that there have only been problems in one audit, of the “1,400” elaborated on public spending in 2019. In a subtle way, Colmenares has sent a message to López Obrador: “The ASF is nonpartisan and apolitical.

Any other consideration is political ”.

In their interventions, the deputies have expressed their concerns about the scope of the “methodological deficiencies” of the ASF.

Ruth Salinas, from Movimiento Ciudadano, has wondered, for example, “in what other analyzes was the failed methodology used”.

Lídia García, from Morena, has insisted that “if there was an error, what is the assurance of the other audited entities that there were no more errors or mistakes?

The answer must be clear ”.

García added that “we must have the results of that mistake and the real figures for the mistake that was made.

ASF errors cannot continue to occur ”.

Others have been tougher, such as Marco Antonio Andrade, also from Morena, who has even questioned the continuity of the superior auditor.

"In another part of the world, the owner would be presenting his resignation," he said.

Andrade has pointed out that for several days rumors have been published about corruption within the ASF.

"We ask the commission to investigate and if the investigations are serious, the removal should begin" of the auditor.

It is not the first time that Colmenares has been asked to leave these days.

Although it is not a simple process due to the type of majority required, two-thirds of the deputies, the Law on Auditing and Accountability provides for this possibility in article 93. The law establishes several assumptions, including membership of a political party or the commission of serious administrative offenses.

In the fifth section, the text indicates that if the "performance evaluation is unsatisfactory without justification" for two consecutive years, the committee could propose the dismissal of the auditor, a case that would apply to Colmenares.

The meeting ended with a new intervention by Colmenares.

With a calm tone, the senior auditor recalled again the number of audits carried out -1,400- compared to the deficient ones -one- and has suggested that, in reality, what happened with the case of the airport is normal.

“ASF is a strong institution.

We are at the technological forefront.

And we are in the best disposition to clarify and clarify our role ”.

Subscribe here

to the

newsletter

of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current situation of this country