Posted by RickFeliz on March 31, 2001 at 20:24:49:
In Reply to: Re: Took a ride with the police... posted by Hippie on March 31, 2001 at 19:18:15:
|
Mexico fires 12 in anti-corruption effort MEXICO CITY, March 30 — In its first strike against corruption, Mexico's new government has fired 12 officials -- three of them in senior positions -- after they were caught taking bribes in an undercover sting operation. The 12 officials included the transport and communication ministry's internal auditor and its directors of federal transport and preventive medicine. They could all face criminal charges. In the sting operation, employees of the state auditor's office, posing as ordinary civilians, were sent to transport ministry offices in five cities to pay bribes for drivers' licenses without taking driving or medical tests. ''We saw in some of these offices that they could be illegally taking in more than 25,000 pesos ($2,500) a day and dividing it between the people participating in the scheme,'' Francisco Barrio, head of the state auditor's office, said at a news conference on Friday. It was the first real success in the anti-corruption campaign launched by President Vicente Fox, who took office in December after breaking the 71-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Presidential spokeswoman Martha Sahagun said it was ''just the beginning of a long, hard struggle against corruption and impunity.'' The fight against corruption was a key part of Fox's election campaign and won him broad public support. His government recently launched a media campaign urging ordinary Mexicans to stop offering bribes, known locally as ''mordidas'' or ''bites.'' Barrio said similar sting operations would be used to uncover corruption in other government departments. |
|
|