Chetumal, Q.R. — Job scandal figures with the Quintana Roo Education Secretariat (SEQ) have risen to include more than 300 victims. The scandal, in which potential job positions were being sold to interested candidates, has also risen to millions of pesos.
Fraud figures have grown from 20 affected people to more than 300 since the news about the scandal broke at the end of August. Financial losses for money paid for those positions has also grown from an estimated 180,000 pesos to more than a million.
On Friday, a group protesting outside the SEQ (Secretaría de Educación de Quintana Roo) headquarters in Chetumal reported being victims of the same network of scammers operating under the guise of selling job placements in the public school sector.
To date, those affected have totaled more than 300 victims. The protesting group are accusing three men, one of which is an official of the Undersecretariat of Basic Education, and the second, belonging to the administrative staff of a secondary school in Playa del Carmen, of leading the scheme.
They are also accusing a third man, José Artemio Viera Martín, who claimed to be a SEQ manager, but has no employment relationship with the SEQ, as the SEQ issued in a public statement last week.
Interested candidates around Quintana Roo forked over an average of 50,000 pesos to be placed in the positions for the school year which started at the end of August. The positions being offered were in the prefectures, administration, teaching and administrative areas. When they were not offered the jobs they paid for, they made their public statements.
SEQ officials listened to their weekend protest and urged them to file formal complaints with the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) and the legal department of the Ministry of Education since most claim to have promissory notes and transfer receipts for deposits made.
The fraud scheme has grown to now include three years and the municipalities of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, José María Morelos, Tulum, Solidaridad and Benito Juárez.
