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By KELIN DILLON

During his daily morning press conference on Thursday, July 25, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) expressed his feelings that the Mexican Food Security Agency (Segalmex) fraud was the largest “stain” on the federal executive’s six-year administration.

Segalmex, which was created after López Obrador merged the Secretariat of Social Development’s (Sedesol) Diconsa and Linconsa companies in 2019, allegedly embezzled 9.5 billion pesos between its foundation and 2022 that was originally intended to reduce the nation’s food insecurity and aid local farmers.

As a result of the fraud, 69 complaints have been filed with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) against 87 people purportedly involved in the mass embezzlement case.

“One of the things I regret the most about my presidency was the fraud at Segalmex, because it was a new agency to support agricultural producers, very similar to the National Company for Subsidies for the Population (Conasupo) in the old days, aiming to ensure that it did not follow in the footsteps of corruption of Conasupo, but to help producers,” said AMLO on Thursday morning.

“We created this agency and through carelessness, and bad luck, officials became corrupt and I regretted it very much,” continued the federal executive. “Of course, those responsible are in jail and there is no impunity for anyone. I would say that is the stain I carry with me, even though we confront this corruption without tolerance of any kind.”

López Obrador went on to note that the Segalmex case was an isolated incident and not indicative of larger corruption in his presidential administration, even though the Segalmex embezzlement was multi-billion pesos larger than the 7 billion peso “Master Fraud” case seen under his predecessor, former Mexican President Enrique Piña Nieto.

“There is nothing that has been considered as a major act of corruption or as many acts of corruption as occurred in previous governments, that is why I can wave the white handkerchief, we have not allowed anyone to be corrupt,” concluded AMLO.