Antonio Cruces Mada, former secretary of health of Jalisco, jailed for diversion of resources

Enrique Alfaro, governor of Jalisco, confirmed the imprisonment of Antonio Cruces Mada, former state secretary of health, who was arrested last March for embezzlement of the treasury, although he was soon released by the amparos with which he defended himself.

“The commitment was clear: the embezzlement that was made in the health sector of the previous government would not be another story of impunity. A few moments ago Antonio Cruces Mada, the former secretary of health of Jalisco, was sent to jail to pay for his misdeeds,” the state president wrote through his Twitter account.

He also welcomed this fact, as the former official had circumvented the authorities with various remedies of amparo “outside the law”. For this reason, he announced that a judge ordered him preventive detention to face “his trial behind bars,” said Alfaro.

It should be noted that the Jalisco Prosecutor's Office, on March 25, announced the arrest of Cruces Mada. However, moments later, he filed an amparo granted by a district judge, which was verified, so Aristotle Sandoval's former cabinet member was removed from the premises.

Gerardo de la Cruz Tovar, the anti-corruption prosecutor, said, days before these events happened, that the former health secretary had evaded the hearings with the promotion of more than 100 amparo trials, demanding that he attend the meeting agreed by mid-March.

“It has to come forward, of course. Obviously many things can happen around that audience, but for now it must be notified these days. We had the knowledge, the notification must be made to the judiciary and we will arrive at the hearing and we will see if he was notified in a timely manner and whether he appears or not,” he said.

From that moment on, de la Cruz Tovar recognized that Cruces Mada could present another protection (which happened). In addition, he confirmed that he was not avoiding his responsibilities to the law, since he was under home protection.

“It is safe, yes, of course. He's on home security. We cannot say that he is evaded in that sense, he has respected the reservation. It is a matter of litigation, finally amparo is a means of defense that all individuals have. He has made good use of that means of defense and with that his procedure has certainly been postponed,” explained the official.

The crimes for which Antonio Cruces was charged are embezzlement and unlawful use of powers and powers. It was also identified that he had made irregular appointments and purchased overpriced inputs. All these actions would reach at least 600 million pesos of public resources embezzled during his 2016 administration.

These have not been all the controversies he was linked to, since in November 2021 he was found beaten and tied hand and foot, after an alleged assault. He was stripped of approximately 50 thousand pesos and his luxury car, in which he was traveling.

The state prosecutor's office detailed that the former official was found in the vicinity of a park located in the Colinas de Atemajac neighborhood, within the municipality of Zapopan. He immediately received first aid and was subsequently taken to a hospital for medical attention.

According to the authorities, the crime occurred outside the home of Antonio Cruces, who had come from practicing his profession as a gynecologist. From one moment to another, he was intercepted by a command, which “lifted” him, assaulted and abandoned some time later.

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