Muralista will testify before FGR in case of alleged fraud in Inbal unrelated to his complaint

The artist and teacher Leopoldo Hernández Castellanos, known as Polo Castellanos, was summoned to testify next Thursday before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) as a witness, despite the fact that in June 2025 he presented a formal complaint before the same instance for an alleged fraud committed in the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal).

According to his lawyers, this situation reflects that the complaint he filed has not been successful.

Castellanos reported that Inbal issued digital tax receipts over the Internet (CFDI), known as “timbrados”, in his name throughout 2024, corresponding to a salary that he never received, since he never established an employment relationship with that agency.

The CFDI are documents that institutions must register with the Tax Administration Service (SAT) to prove payroll payments. In the case of the artist, monthly stamps were generated for more than a year without him receiving the resources, which has generated a negative balance.

In an interview with this newspaper, Castellanos reported yesterday that his lawyers explained that his appearance as a witness could be linked to a complaint that Inbal himself presented to the FGR, not to the investigation folder that he initiated. “My complaint is still stuck in the local prosecutor’s office,” he assumed.

The case of this possible illicit activity inside Inbal was announced yesterday by The Day, detailing that the School of Artistic Initiation 1 (EIA1) kept Castellanos registered on its payroll from February 2024 to April 2025, issuing monthly CFDI in his name, even though he did not work on that campus.

According to the artist’s complaint, the vouchers would have been collected through checks with his forged signature, a situation that was ratified by the agency’s authorities in an official letter issued last year. The forgery of his signature was also done with the renewal of his contract and an alleged resignation from that educational center, Castellanos said.

In the same note published on these pages, the testimony of a teacher who asked to remain anonymous was included, who stated that these irregularities are not isolated cases. According to her story, she herself was included on the payroll six months before officially starting to work and in a different center than the one where she was finally hired.

The position of the Ministry of Culture was also published, which states that Inbal reported that in April 2025 it began an internal review and filed a complaint with the FGR, the body responsible for investigating the facts.

He added that he is collaborating in the integration of the folder and that, due to “procedural secrecy,” he cannot provide more details. The agency reiterated its commitment to “legality and zero tolerance for corruption.”

another find

One of the elements documented in the investigation is an internal letter from Inbal, dated April 15, 2025, addressed to José Heriberto Cortés Escobedo, administrator of the EIA1, and signed by Héctor Hernández Espinosa, from the General Subdirectorate of Administration.

The document states that “immediately cancel the stamps” corresponding to Polo Castellanos. It is also noted that an investigation would be initiated and a minimum fine of 400 measurement and updating units – equivalent to approximately 45 thousand pesos at that time – would be applied to those responsible.

Castellanos recalled that on April 15, 2025, hours after the letter was issued, Cortés Escobedo showed it to him during a meeting at the EIA1. According to the artist, he was unable to obtain a copy because he was informed that it was an internal document. A copy of this was sent to Raquel Buenrostro, head of the Anti-Corruption and Good Government Secretariat.

Despite the immediate cancellation instruction, the CFDI remain valid before the SAT, the artist and teacher assured yesterday.

“The last time I asked my accountant was last December and they were still there; today (March 16) we confirm that they continue. They never canceled them,” declared Castellanos, who specified that the last receipt corresponds to April 2025, “but all the accumulated stamps remain active,” which affects their tax situation.

“There was an official instruction and it was not carried out. That is the matter,” stressed the victim, who reported that a friend of his – a cultural manager and communicator – who offered to take the case to journalists close to the presidential morning conference to give national visibility, was immediately blocked on his WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok accounts after making the request.

“When he tried to answer me, they had blocked his phone. He tried to send the screenshot of the conversation and they even blocked the image,” said Castellanos, who considered that these events, in the context of his complaint against Inbal, “are turning into an ant color.”

Institute statement

In a statement issued last night, Inbal confirmed what was reported by the Ministry of Culture to The Day regarding the complaints related to the EIA1, and reiterated that “the corresponding measures” were taken before the internal control body and that a complaint was filed with the FGR.

He stressed that “there are no elements that indicate that these events are repeated in other work centers of the institute.”

It reaffirmed its policy of “zero tolerance for corruption” in its spaces and promised to report the results of these investigations as soon as “it is feasible to do so.”