Mexico's Ex-President Peña Nieto Accused in Bribery Scandal

Mexico's Attorney General's Office (FGR) on Thursday accused former President Enrique Peña Nieto of "betraying the country" for being involved in a corruption scheme linked to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

RELATED:

AMLO To Regulate Outsourcing Despite Private Sector Refusal

According to the Attorney General's Office, Peña Nieto "had his own criminal power apparatus which he used to implement a strategy of co-opting lawmakers in charge of approving his reforms proposals on energy matters".

The crime of bribery by Peña Nieto was allegedly committed in complicity with Former Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray who was ordered to deliver the bribes to lawmakers in Congress.

Meanwhile, Odebrecht officials have confirmed the payment of US$10.5 million for Pena Nieto's presidential campaign in order to obtain contracts with the oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), once he became president.    

In 2012, Peña Nieto, who lives now in Spain, achieved the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to the Presidential office which was lost in 2000 after seven decades in power. 

In early November, the FGR confirmed an arrest warrant against Luis Videgaray on the alleged use of resources from illicit origin charges, including crimes of bribery and treason.

"Justice takes time, but it comes. I have confidence in that. Also that there will be no revenge, that there will be no summary trials, that no crimes will be invented, that everything will be according to the law, that evidence will be presented, that it will not be a show, what they did before." President Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

In 2012, Peña Nieto, who lives now in Spain, achieved the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to the Presidential office which was lost in 2000 after seven decades in power.