Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Mexico's president denies campaign received funds from Odebrecht bribes

Published 08/15/2017, 03:34 PM
Updated 08/15/2017, 03:40 PM
© Reuters. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers his speech to supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) during their national assembly ahead of the 2018 election at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes

© Reuters. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers his speech to supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) during their national assembly ahead of the 2018 election at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president's office on Tuesday rejected allegations that bribes by Brazilian builder Odebrecht were funneled into the 2012 campaign of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Brazil's O Globo newspaper reported this past weekend on documents alleging that Pena Nieto's confidant Emilio Lozoya received bribes from a former Odebrecht executive from 2012 in return for a contract at Mexico's Tula refinery.

Citing bank documents, a further report by civil society group Mexicans Against Corruption said payments had been made when Lozoya was a senior official in Pena Nieto's campaign.

"It is absurd, irresponsible and in bad faith to link the campaign of President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2012 with the investigations that are carried out today in the Odebrecht case," the president's office said in a statement.

The president's office said that Mexican electoral authorities had supervised spending in the campaign and had not found anything illegal.

Odebrecht has admitted to U.S. and Brazilian prosecutors that it paid $10.5 million in bribes in Mexico but details on those bribes have not been made public.

Corruption scandals have hounded Pena Nieto's government, playing into the hands of leftist opposition candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is preparing a third run for office next year on an anti-graft ticket.

Lawmakers from Lopez Obrador's Morena party on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Mexican attorney general's office (PGR), demanding an investigation of Lozoya, who ran state oil company Pemex from 2013 to 2016.

"They gave him the chance to administer a state company and he used it for illegal enrichment," Morena lawmaker Rocio Nahle told reporters outside the PGR's main building in the capital.

Lozoya called the allegations "absolutely false" in a Twitter post on Sunday, and he has threatened to sue for defamation.

Since settling cases in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland for a record $3.5 billion, Odebrecht has sought to negotiate leniency deals that would allow it to keep operating in other countries across Latin America.

Odebrecht admitted in the settlement with U.S. and Brazilian prosecutors to paying bribes across 12 countries to win contracts, including in Mexico.

© Reuters. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers his speech to supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) during their national assembly ahead of the 2018 election at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes

The PGR said in a statement on Sunday that Mexico had not accepted a settlement offer by Odebrecht, and would not accept any deal based on limiting punishment to those found to be involved.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.