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Mexican president replaces head of anti-corruption agency

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president announced Monday he is replacing the head of the government’s anti-corruption agency, saying more reforms are needed.

One of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s top priorities has been the fight against government waste, fraud and insider contracts.

Since taking office in late 2018, he has relied on Irma Eréndira Sandoval to head the Public Administration Department. But on Monday he said Sandoval will return to her job as an academic, and public administration expert Roberto Salcedo will take her place.

López Obrador said reforms were needed, but did not specify what they might be.

“She complied completely,” López Obrador said of Sandoval, “but we are entering a new stage and we are going to carry out other reforms.”

López Obrador has announced plans for three major reforms for the rest of his administration, which ends in 2024, but none of them have to do with the public administration department. He will seek to make the National Guard part of the army, enshrine the state power utility as a de-facto monopoly, and reduce the size of Mexico's 628-seat federal legislature.

He praised Sandoval, who has cracked down on wasteful or over-priced contracts, especially those for purchases of medications for the public health care sector. The government largely centralized those purchases, arguing that private suppliers were charging too much. But the move did result in temporary shortages of some medicines.