This Wednesday, the first of March, the hearings of the trial against Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres, alias the chemist, accused of improper exercise of public service, begin, who as of tomorrow and for three days will appear before the Control and Prosecution Judge from the Central Zone of Sinaloa.
Considered by public opinion as the worst mayor of Mazatlán of all time and repudiated by large sectors of Mazatlan society -who even burned his figure on Bad Humor Saturday of the Mazatlán Carnival 2023-, Benítez Torres will appear starting tomorrow and It will continue to respond to the accusations on March 2 and 3 to respond to the accusations of the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office, supported by fiscal reviews of the Superior State Audit Office and complaints from the Mazatlán Citizen Observatory, among other organizations and citizens.
It has emerged that he could opt for the abbreviated procedure, offer to repair the damage and continue the process in freedom.
There are at least 10 lawsuits gathered in two investigation folders, as confirmed by prosecutor Sara Bruna Quiñonez, which could include serious and non-serious crimes.
According to the Penal Code of the State of Sinaloa, serious crimes could merit from 2 to 7 years in prison and from 30 to 300 days of fine, in accordance with article 298 of the Penal Code of the State of Sinaloa, chapter II of the Exercise Improper and Abandonment of Public Service.
As Paralelo 23 has published in detail , Benítez Torres should respond in the best of cases for the diversion and non-verification of resources for $1,246,094.00 pesos (One thousand two hundred and forty-six thousand and ninety-four pesos MXN.), according to federal and from the years 2019 to 2021, with the year 2022 pending until October 25, when he resigned from office in an unprecedented event in the political history of the municipality.
Without considering the accounts of the para-municipal Institute of Culture, InMujeres, the Municipal Board of Potable Water and Sewerage and the Sports Institute, where there is physical evidence of financial loss, these are the observations not resolved by the 2018-2022 administration:
- $60,000,000.00 for an advance contract with Azteca Lighting and eventually to the claim for damages that the company is entitled to file for breach of contract for $ 400 million 800 thousand pesos (Grupo Areh reloaded).
- $819,416,960.08 federal resources not settled or clarified from the 2020 public account, according to the Superior Audit of the Federation.
- $4,000,073.46 lack of documentary evidence of the service provider’s management for Income Tax (ISR) recoveries
- $341,277,023.13 unsolved observations of the Superior State Audits on the public accounts 2019, 2020 and 2021
- $12,500,000.00 from the Mazatlán Aquarium for debt with no source of payment and budget excess of $8,900,000.00
