Ex-CAPA Director’s Billion-Peso Case Revived

Playa del Carmen, Mexico — The Attorney General's Office of the Republic has reactivated the case against Paula González Cetina, the former director of the Potable Water and Sewer Commission of the State of Quintana Roo, for the alleged misappropriation of more than one billion pesos linked to the concession granted to Aguakán. Although she was acquitted in 2020, authorities are seeking new evidence that could link the former governor, Roberto Borge Angulo, to the case.

On September 24, a federal agent from the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Investigation of Operations with Resources of Illicit Provenance, attached to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, which is part of the Attorney General's Office, requested reports on the embezzlement accusation that was previously brought against González Cetina. This action revives the case concerning the alleged misappropriation of over one billion pesos related to the awarding of the potable water supply contract to Aguakán.

Sol Quintana Roo detected procedural movement in the file for direct amparo 378/2019 from the Third Collegiate Circuit Court, which had absolved González Cetina of the crime of peculation. The former official had been accused of apparently diverting the sum of 1,055,999,992 pesos, which the concessionaire Aguakán delivered to former governor Roberto Borge Angulo. This money remains missing to this day.

According to the consulted court files, the Attorney General's Office is diligently seeking to obtain all reports on this case, with the aim of resolving the central issue: determining the whereabouts of the substantial sum of money.

This case is of utmost importance at a pivotal moment when Aguakán is seeking, by all available means, to maintain its position at the forefront of the potable water and sewerage concession in four municipalities of Quintana Roo: Playa del Carmen, Benito Juárez, Isla Mujeres, and Puerto Morelos.

Paula González Cetina, who has been imprisoned in connection with this case, was acquitted in a sentence issued on June 23, 2020. However, federal agents are now seeking to review her case again to determine what evidence could be presented against her former superior, ex-governor Roberto Borge Angulo, who is currently imprisoned in a state penitentiary in Morelos.