By – Lic. Hector Torres.
TO ALL OUR CLIENTS AND FRIENDS:
As you know, general elections were held in Mexico on July 1st, 2018. Voters elected a new President of Mexico, 128 members of the Senate for a period of six years, and 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies for a period of three years.
In a recent press conference, the president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) announced 50 general actions to fight corruption and the application of Republican austerity policy in the government.
From our point of view, we consider the following to be the most important and/or relevant:
- Laws will be reformed to consider the following activities as aggravated crimes: influence peddling, corruption, the association between officials and individuals to commit fraud against the Treasury, fuel theft and electoral fraud in any of its forms. The accused will not be allowed to present bail to be free during the legal process that they face.
- All officials must present their and their close relatives’ declaration of assets. This information will be published and transparent in all cases.
- The President of the Republic will earn less than half of what current President Enrique Peña Nieto receives without any other compensation.
- There will be no acquisitions of new vehicles for officials.
- No computer systems will be purchased in the first year of government.
- Only Cabinet Secretaries or their equivalent will have private secretaries.
- Travel expenses will be limited to the minimum needed.
- The budget for private medical expenses for government officials will be eliminated.
- Trusts and any other mechanisms used to conceal or hide public funds and evade legality and transparency will be canceled.
- All published programs and structures: major offices, press offices, publications offices, legal offices, purchasing offices, internal affairs and auditing offices, delegations and others, will be centralized in a single unit or coordination.
- There will be a reduction of 70 percent of direct staff and 70 percent of the respective operating expenses.
- The salaries of senior public officials who earn more than one million pesos per year will be reduced by half.
- No government personnel can or will use private planes or helicopters. The aircraft fleet and helicopters of the Federal Government will be sold. Only air vehicles destined for civil protection, safety, and air ambulances will be kept.
- The use of official vehicles and other public assets for private matters will be prohibited.
- Public officials will be prohibited from hiring family members.
- Direct staff members will work from Monday to Saturday and at least eight hours a day.
The purpose of these guidelines is to make Mexico more competitive by having a smaller but more efficient federal government.
For any questions or comments regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Leobardo Tenorio-Malof | ltenorio@tplegal.net
Héctor Torres-López | htorres@tplegal.net
Alejandro Pedrín | apedrin@tplegal.net
Mauricio Tortolero | mtortolero@tplegal.net
Daniel Gancz-Kahan | dgancz@tplegal.net
