Consulate General Of Mexico - Dallas Texas
N 32° 50.252 W 096° 52.573
14S E 698776 N 3635274
The original Mexican Consulate at Dallas, Texas.
Waymark Code: WM73GH
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/27/2009
Views: 11
From the Dallas Morning news website:
Mexican consulate investigation focused on former employee
07:41 AM CDT on Monday, August 17, 2009
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com
An information system operator is at the center of an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoings at the Mexican consulate in Dallas, authorities on both sides of the border say.
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Mexican authorities are searching for an employee who is wanted in connection with an alleged passport scheme that over a seven-year period robbed the government of tens of thousands of dollars in fees, authorities said Sunday.
A spokesman at the consulate in Dallas would not confirm the employee's name, citing an ongoing investigation in Mexico City.
The employee was fired in June 2008 and fled Dallas shortly after Mexican authorities began questioning him about the missing funds. He is considered a fugitive and is believed to be in Mexico. However, authorities weren't discounting the possibility that he might be in Texas, where he has friends and family.
The sources, including a senior Mexican official familiar with the investigation and three other Mexican officials, said that at least one consulate staff member had skimmed money from passport fees paid by customers and run a side business inside the consulate selling passport photos and photocopies. It remained unclear whether the employee had help inside the consulate office.
The passport scheme worked like this, the officials said: The employee or employees received $100 processing fees from people applying for five-year passports, but reported issuing only one-year passports costing $30, then pocketed the difference.
Tens of thousands of dollars were reported missing, according to authorities.
The allegations of fraud have led to the pending removal of Consul General Enrique Hubbard, who has been reassigned to study and teach at American University in Washington, D.C. Mexican officials say Hubbard's exit represents a "soft landing" for a veteran diplomat who over a 35-year period served as Mexico's ambassador in a number of posts worldwide.
A senior Mexican official said that Hubbard is not accused of corruption, but that "he proved to be too tolerant."
Defenders insist that Hubbard, 64, did nothing wrong and took appropriate action once it was clear that the employee was abusing his position for personal profit.
A group of supporters in Dallas issued a letter to the media Sunday defending Hubbard and praising his work as consul general.
The letter states that Hubbard requested the investigation once he learned "that a now former local employee had been engaged in corrupt behavior."
"Hubbard has dismissed other individuals who had been found engaging in corrupt or irregular practices at the consulate offices," the letter says.
The letter also alleges that problems exist in other Mexican consular offices in the U.S. and asks the Mexican government to investigate.
The letter is signed by 17 key Mexican-American leaders, including Gustavo Bujanda, president of Raices Mexicanas; Alejandrina Drew, former director of the Latino Cultural Center; and Arturo Cuellar, a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.
The letter also will be sent to Mexico's foreign ministry and President Felipe Calderón.
The Calderón administration, facing a projected federal budget shortfall of billions of dollars next year because of the ongoing economic crisis, is stepping up efforts to cut waste and corruption in Mexico and abroad, the officials said.
Mission's address:
8855 Stemmons
Dallas, Texas USA
75050
Business hours: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM
Website: Not listed
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