MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s anti-money laundering agency said Thursday it has accused ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto of handling millions of dollars in possibly illegal funds.

It would mark the first formal legal accusations against Peña Nieto, despite a cloud of allegations about corruption during his 2012-2018 administration. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made rooting out corruption the main theme of his presidency, but hadn’t yet moved against any of his predecessors.

The criminal complaint filed against Peña Nieto by the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit does not mean prosecutors have decided to file any formal charges.

But the head of the unit, Pablo Gomez, said federal prosecutors have received the complaint alleging use of illicit funds and are investigating it.

Gomez said Thursday that two companies run by Peña Nieto’s family had received about $500 million in government contracts while he was president. He did not identify the companies but said they were a sort of distribution firm, and the former president was a shareholder.

Gomez also said Peña Nieto had received money transfers from a relative, apparently linked to the two companies, for about $1.3 million after leaving office. Gomez said Peña Nieto’s accounts and those of the companies haven’t been blocked.

Peña Nieto moved to Spain after leaving office, and has not publicly commented on a series of accusations.

The former head of Mexico’s state-run oil company under Peña Nieto, Emilio Lozoya, has claimed that Peña Nieto and his right-hand man, then-Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray, directed him to bribe lawmakers, including five senators, to support controversial energy and other structural reforms in 2013 and 2014.

Videgaray has denied the accusations. Neither man faces any charges in that case.



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