Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s crusade against corruption took a dramatic turn this week when federal prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Emilio Lozoya, the former director of Pemex, the state-owned oil giant.
Lozoya, who was former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s advisor and election campaign manager, has been charged with masterminding an allegedly fraudulent deal between Pemex and one of Mexico’s largest steel companies, Altos Hornos.
Altos Hornos owner Alonso Ancira – often referred to as “the King of Steel” – was detained on the island of Majorca in Spain earlier this week and faces extradition, while Lozoya’s whereabouts are unknown. According to news reports, Interpol has released a “red alert” in their search for the ex-Pemex supremo.
Although Lozoya initially avoided arrest after his attorney filed an amparo (injunction) suspending the warrant, the move has prompted speculation that more Peña Nieto associates may be in prosecutors’ sights.
It is not uncommon for new presidents in Mexico to target high-up officials from the previous administration. History shows that rookie chief executives tend to get a popularity bounce from such moves. Lopez Obrador, however, had avoided from going after top guns from the Peña Nieto regime, despite plenty of evidence suggesting some had been involved in wrongdoing.
As yet, authorities have not charged any Mexican official in connection to the Odebrecht scandal, in which the giant Brazilian construction company bribed a string of Latin American officials, including some presidents and vice presidents. Noted the BBC in a recent report: since 2010 “illegal payments (from Odebrecht) may have sloshed through presidential campaigns, boosted the careers of political top brass in country after country, and oiled the wheels of worldwide construction projects including motorways, gas pipelines and hydroelectric dams.” It is alleged that Odebrecht paid around $US10 million in bribes to Mexican officials, obtaining lucrative contracts in return. The president of Odebrecht met with Peña Nieto in 2013 after winning a contract to participate in the construction of a refinery here.
While Lopez Obrador promised he wouldn’t engage in “witch hunts” after taking power in December last year, one of the core focuses of his campaign was to root out corruption in Mexico, especially at the highest levels. Although Lozoya is the most high-profile former official to be targeted by the current federal administration, the president denied the charges were either political or an act of “vengeance,” and said they relate to criminal matters alone.
Lozoya and Ancira face charges over the sale of an inoperative Altos Hornos fertilizer plant to Pemex for US$475 million. Officials from Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit believe the plant was not valued correctly and the deal to be fraudulent. Both men have been charged with bribery, fraud and organized crime.
Lozoya was Pemex’s CEO from 2012 to 2016.