Gobierno de Sonora

Guillermo Noriega, the Sonoran government's top auditor, speaks about investigations into irregularities under the previous administration during a press conference on Jan. 19, 2022.

Sonora’s governor was sworn into office last September. Since then, his administration has opened dozens of audits into previous state leaders.

The Sonoran government has opened 172 investigations in the past four months — looking into irregularities and possible corruption under the previous administration.

Those investigations include audits of 17 state agencies, such as housing, infrastructure and social security.

And officials say they are also exploring the possibility of reopening a criminal investigation into a 2016 election scandal linked to former Gov. Claudia Pavlovich. She and others allegedly diverted millions of public dollars to pay for the PRI party’s political campaigns, exposed in an investigation by the nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity in 2018.

Pavlovich's administration opened an investigation into the case but closed in in 2019.

Since Pavlovich was nominated as Mexico’s consul to Barcelona this week, some have raised concerns that the role could shield her from accountability.

"No, no. The answer is no," said Guillermo Noriega, the state's top auditor, during a press conference about the investigations. "I'm going to repeat, there is no public office — not in the foreign service of the federal government or in the United Nations, that gives you immunity from a process of accountability. None. There is no charge the shields you from accountability and if that's where we have to go, we will."

He added that his office will ask legislators to extend statutes of limitations for these kinds of crimes.