A federal tribunal confirmed the writ of amparo obtained by Emilio Lozoya , months after the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) seized the luxurious property located in Mexico City.
Mexico City magistrates confirmed the verdict previously issued by a judge.
The resolution revokes the announcement made by the Attorney General’s Office on May 28, 2019. However, might not recover the property . The FGR asked the judge 10 days to fulfill the verdict.
Authorities seized the property amid an investigation over the purchase of fertilizer plant Agronitrogenados . According to investigations, the home was purchased using the bribes Alonso Ancira paid Lozoya.
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In May 2019, EL UNIVERSAL reported that Mexican authorities discovered a 2011 bank transfer for USD 1,100,000 from a bank account in Switzerland, linked to former Pemex director Emilio Lozoya; this transfer could link the former Pemex director to a company linked to a Spanish construction company.
An NGO, Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, explained that the bank account in Switzerland was allegedly used to send funds to a company linked to OHL executives; the account was also allegedly used to triangulate bribes from Odebrecht,
“Mexican authorities have located a transfer for USD 1,100,000 made in 2011 from an account in Switzerland, linked to Lozoya and in favor of Infoglobal, a company owned by the son-in-law of the biggest OHL shareholder, the Spanish construction company involved in a corruption scandal in Spain,” said the NGO.
It added that the “account is owned by an offshore company called Tochos Holding, established in the Virgin Islands, where according to Mexican authorities, the beneficiaries are Emilio Lozoya and his sister, Gilda Susana.”
The NGO claims that the money from the Tochos Holding account was allegedly used by Lozoya to buy his home at the exclusive Lomas de Bezares neighborhood in Mexico City in 2012; Lozoya paid MXN 38 million for the home.
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The NGO also indicated that “the investigations signals that that money came from bribes Odebrecht allegedly paid to Lozoya in 2012.”
The official investigations indicate that over USD 3 million, transferred between March and June 2012, was deposited to an account in Switzerland, registered by Latin American Asia Capital.
According to former Odebrecht executives who have testified against the Brazilian company, the Swiss account is linked to the former Pemex director. In November 2012, Odebrecht money was transferred to another account in Switzerland, the property of Tochos Holding.
Nevertheless, Lozoya won't be arrested thanks to the permanent suspension of his arrest warrant, instead, he will have to report himself before a judge every week.
Mexico's Attorney General explained that Emilio Lozoya will have to pay an MXN 500,000 bond and will have to attend the Attorney General's Office as many times as he is required to.
The Attorney General’s Office said Emilio Lozoya Austin and Alonso Ancira agreed that once Lozoya was appointed as Pemex’s executive director by Enrique Peña Nieto, he would help Ancira to sell the Agronitrogenados fertilizer plant to Pemex for a higher price than its real value. In exchange for this, Ancira allegedly transferred millions to Tochos Holding.
With the bribes provided by Ancira, Lozoya acquired a property in Mexico City. The home was previously owned by María del Carmen Ampudia Cárdenas.
During a hearing, prosecutors announced they would investigate Ampudia Cárdenas’ financial records and that they will request other countries to help them obtain financial records regarding Lozoya’s bank accounts in the Virgin Islands.
According to the FGR, the operation to purchase Agronitrogenados cost Mexico USD 8,096 million. They added that the debt Pemex acquired to purchase the fertilizer plant continues to increase.
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