Mexico's Pena Nieto lauds arrests of former governors as government response against impunity

Record ID: 645430

  • Title: Mexico's Pena Nieto lauds arrests of former governors as government response against impunity
  • Date: 17th April 2017
  • Summary: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (APRIL 16, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF MATAMOROS PRISON WHERE DUARTE WAS TAKEN
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2017 21:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MEXICO CITY AND VERACRUZ MEXICO; GUATEMALA CITY AND PANAJACHEL, GUATEMALA
  • City: MEXICO CITY AND VERACRUZ MEXICO; GUATEMALA CITY AND PANAJACHEL, GUATEMALA
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036CSFK8Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lauded on Monday (April 17) the arrest of a former Mexican state governor for corruption and credited his own administration for its work "against impunity."
    Ex-Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte, a former rising star within Pena Nieto's own PRI party, was arrested on Saturday (April 15) in Guatemala on an interpol warrant on charges of graft and organised crime.
    Mexican authorities have already arrested several of Duarte's top cabinet officials on corruption, and said they are investigating others, including those who may have helped him escape the country and evade police for five months.
    Duarte has been accused of carrying out massive personal enrichment schemes with illicit resources, potentially totalling in the hundreds of millions of dollars and involving assets in Mexico and abroad.
    In October of 2016, as accusations of graft mounted, Duarte was thrown out of the party and resigned as governor, a few weeks before his six-year term was due to end. He has been on the run ever since.
    Public auditors have since called his administration of state accounts among the worst cases of misappropriation of public funds in years. The attorney general's office has said some $400 million pesos has been returned to the state of Veracruz and authorities have secured a number of assets that were taken from the state.
    Duarte is being held at the Matamoros prison in Guatemala City where he is awaiting extradition. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
    Pena Nieto signed anti-corruption laws into effect in the summer of 2016 after his administration was cleared in a conflict of interest investigation involving his wife's purchase of a $7 million mansion from a favoured contractor.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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