FGR seeks new hearing in ISSSTE laboratory case
By Cartel Insider Wire Desk · Edited by Mica Treviño
Original reporting: El Diario de Juárez
What happened
El Diario de Juárez reports that prosecutors are renewing a case against 10 former ISSSTE officials over six laboratory-service contracts with a maximum value of 3.675 billion pesos.
Reporting and context
Mexico’s federal prosecutors are again seeking to bring a case against 10 former ISSSTE officials over allegedly unlawful laboratory-service contracts worth up to 3.675 billion pesos, according to El Diario de Juárez.
The FGR’s anti-corruption prosecutor’s office has asked a federal judge at Mexico City’s Reclusorio Oriente court complex to schedule an initial hearing. Prosecutors want to present charges of unlawful use of official powers and obtain an order allowing the criminal proceedings to advance.
El Diario de Juárez reported that the renewed effort follows a July ruling in which Judge Marco Antonio González Cortázar declined to allow proceedings against the former officials to advance, citing omissions and deficiencies in the FGR’s allegations. The account cites earlier reporting by Grupo REFORMA.
The judge declined to dismiss the investigation, leaving prosecutors able to pursue additional lines of inquiry and bring the case back to court. The FGR chose to address the shortcomings rather than appeal that ruling, the report said. The new hearing request does not establish that the judge has approved it or ordered the defendants to face further proceedings.
The case concerns six contracts for clinical testing at ISSSTE hospitals and medical units. Their combined minimum value was 1.470 billion pesos and their maximum was 3.675 billion pesos, including VAT. They ran from July 2018 through June 2020.
The companies that benefited included Instrumentos y Equipos Falcón, Impromed, Dicipa, Hemoser, Centrum Promotora Internacional, Selecciones Médicas del Centro and Valtrum. The source refers to the suppliers as the “Cártel de la Sangre.”
According to the FGR, the contracts were awarded directly on June 29, 2018, using a market study based solely on information from the participating companies, without seeking price quotations from other sources.
Original publication: https://diario.mx/nacional/2026/nov/15/va-la-fgr-de-nuevo-por-cartel-de-la-sangre-1148822.html