SAB Bars Four CFE Officials for 20 Years Over Purchase of 82,000 Unnecessary Voltage Optimizers

On June 14, 2026, the Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno (SAB) barred four officials from the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) from public service for 20 years and imposed a joint fine of 1,192.5 million pesos for authorizing a 2017 contract for the purchase and installation of 82,000 voltage optimizers that the agency determined were unnecessary for electricity supply.

The ruling is part of a broader package of sanctions against 39 federal officials across various agencies for serious and non-serious administrative violations in procurement, according to the official communiqué published by the SAB on June 14, 2026. In CFE's case, the underlying events date to 2017: the sanctioned officials approved the acquisition and installation of voltage-regulation devices on the distribution network without demonstrating a technical necessity for supply, in violation of the Ley General de Responsabilidades Administrativas (LGRA). According to El Financiero, which covered the ruling on June 14, 2026, the 1,192.5 million peso fine is one of the largest financial penalties the SAB has imposed in the electricity sector.

The four officials identified in the ruling as Roberto V., Alberto M., José Q., and Francisco D., belonging to CFE Distribución, the equipment and materials laboratory, the basic supply services unit, and the corporate operations directorate, received the maximum 20-year disqualification provided under the LGRA for serious violations, the most severe category in the administrative accountability framework. The joint fine of 1,192.5 million pesos, for which all four officials are jointly liable, is the largest in the June 14 package of rulings. The SAB communiqué notes that across all 39 case files, disqualification periods range from one month to the 20-year maximum applied in this case.

The SAB's rulings can be appealed before the Tribunal Federal de Justicia Administrativa (TFJA). The outcome of any appeals will determine whether the sanctions stand and whether the case sets a precedent in procurement oversight for state-owned productive enterprises such as CFE.

This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.