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The president who was in power for six years is being investigated for alleged illicit enrichment, money laundering and electoral crimes, confirmed the Attorney General’s Office. On Wednesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador affirmed that he is not seeking revenge or promoting a persecution against his predecessor.
The former president of Mexico in the period of 2012-2018, Enrique Peña Nieto, was in the eye of controversy after the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reported that he had initiated investigations against him for three possible cases of corruption.
The files that fall on the former president, currently based in Spain, are labeled under the crimes of illicit enrichment, money laundering and electoral crimes.
“At this time, the FGR is developing investigation procedures in various folders for federal crimes against Enrique ‘P’,” the entity said in a brief statement.
As detailed in the letter, the Iberian company OHL -dedicated to construction- is involved in cases of an electoral and patrimonial nature, something that “will allow prosecutions in the coming months.”
On the other hand, regarding money laundering, the suspicion was revealed by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in July for “illegal international transfers.” The unit also added that there are investigation files for illicit enrichment, where there are ongoing studies.
On July 7, the FIU stated that the FGR had initiated an investigation for “operations with resources of illicit origin” for amounts that amounted to more than 26 million pesos, the equivalent of 1.25 million dollars.
There are three transfers that are under suspicion. On October 20 and 29, 2021 -those that gave rise to the FIU’s exploration- that reach five million pesos each; and another previous one, from August 21, 2019, for 16 million.
The person in charge of the FIU, Pablo Gómez, referred to the fact that the presidential family made deposits of 47 million pesos and withdrawals of 189 million in cash between 2013 and 2022, money of dubious origin. He also added that they believed that Peña Nieto had a relationship with two companies that obtained lucrative contracts with the Mexican state during his administration.
Back then, Peña Nieto defended himself through Twitter and said that he could “clarify any questions and demonstrate the legality” of his assets.
López Obrador rules out a “revenge”
The current president of Mexico referred this August 3 to the investigations communicated on Tuesday that fall on the figure of Peña Nieto.
AMLO denied that it was “revenge” and did not answer whether he would urge him to return from Spain to face justice. “That has to be decided by the Prosecutor’s Office, it’s not up to me,” he explained.
López Obrador stressed that the complaints disclosed by the FGR “are being studied, analyzed.”
“We cannot tell the prosecutor or a dependency not to act,” he stressed.
Since his inauguration in 2018, the president has emphasized the apparent corruption of his predecessors, Peña Nieto and Felipe Calderón (2006-2012). In fact, last year he raised a referendum that asked if the last five former presidents should be prosecuted, but it had only 7% of the participation, causing it to have no legal effect.
In this regard, this Wednesday he said that his position is to “look forward” and that “Justice is prevention, not falling into the spectacular and not doing the same.” Finally, AMLO added that “the processes that exist have to have their course.”
With EFE and AFP
