Criticized by President, Mexico auditor backtracks on airport cancellation cost

Mexico’s Federal Audit Office (ASF) retracted a report that found President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s decision to cancel a partly built airport in Mexico City had cost 332b pesos ($16b), hours after the president denounced its findings. The ASF said Monday it had ordered a review into its report after finding “inconsistencies”. Its figure for the cost of cancelling the airport had been too high, due to a flaw in methodology, it said. Lopez Obrador has defended his 2018 decision to cancel the airport, his predecessor’s flagship project. In 2019, the transport ministry estimated the cost of the cancellation at 100m pesos. At a news conference on Monday, Lopez Obrador criticized the ASF, calling its figures an exaggeration and demanding the auditor explain how it arrived at them. The ASF said it would publish a final revised report once its review was complete.<br/>