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Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero released a video through social media to announce that this morning, Emilio Lozoya Austin, the former Pemex chief involved in major corruption cases, filed a lawsuit in connection with his involvement in the Odebrecht case.
Regarding the Odebrecht case, Gertz Manero said Lozoya said there were a series of bribes that amounted to over MXN 100 million, which were used to fund Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign in 2012.
According to Emilio Lozoya, Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray ordered him to give the money to foreign electoral advisers who collaborated in the PRI’s presidential campaign.
Attorney General Gertz Manero added that the lawsuit filed by the former Pemex chief also mentions a bribery scheme created to approve the structural reforms presented in 2013 and 2014. According to Lozoya, Peña Nieto and Videgaray ordered him to give MXN 120 million to five senators and one lawmaker.
Gertz Manero said federal prosecutors won’t release the names of these six politicians until the FGR finds evidence against them.
The lawsuit also mentions a bribery case involving company Etileno XXI. Lozoya claims Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray instructed him to deliver MXN 84 million to several lawmakers and politicians.
The Attorney General said Emilio Lozoya presented four witnesses, invoices, and one video as evidence .
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office has officially launched an investigation into Emilio Lozoya’s explosive claims.
In July 2019, Emilio Lozoya's former lawyer asked Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray to testify.
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Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidential campaign
In October 2019, EL UNIVERSAL reported rumors surrounding Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2012 campaign.
Two former Mossad agents had dinner with two high-ranking Pemex officials in an upscale restaurant in Mexico City and recorded their conversation. One of the former officials revealed an extensive bribery scheme.
Back then, the Wall Street Journal released 2017 recordings featuring former Pemex deputy director, José Carlos Pacheco, who describes the corruption networks and bribery schemes inside Pemex.
The recordings were made by a private investigation agency, Black Cube, which seemed to prove that Pemex officials conspired to bankrupt company Oro Negro.
According to the WSJ, two former Mossad agents who now work for Black Cube met with José Carlos Pacheco in a restaurant in Mexico City in October 2017. The agents posed as intermediaries for a wealthy investor from the United Arab Emirates, who was interested in purchasing Oro Negro.
The agents asked if Oro Negro would obtain better contracts with Pemex if the fictitious UAE company they were representing bribed Pemex officials and asked how the bribery scheme worked. Then Pecheco starts to explain the mechanism.
Pacheco goes on to explain that several Pemex officials accept payments through family members or through simulated consultancies, established to launder money.
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“There are deputy directors, for example, who used their son to receive payments and everyone knows it,” he said.
According to Pacheco, there were Pemex officials who created a shell company in Singapore and another executive who created 20 companies, which were controlled by his father, to accept and launder money.
Pacheco also said that Emilio Lozoya asked for between USD 50,000 and USD 100,000 for a meeting.
In the recordings, it can also he heard that former Pemex officials asked for up to USD 5 million in bribes.
Yet the most explosive statement made by Pacheco involves Enrique Peña Nieto, the former Mexican President. According to Pacheco, Carlos Morales, who was considered as the second in charge at Pemex for many years and who worked as the director of Pemex Exploration and Production (PEP), raised MXN 2,000 million for Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential campaign in 2012.
“Carlos Morales supported Enrique Peña Nieto's campaign with all the contractors: they raised over MXN 2,000 million. Then, he survived (in the position) for a year and a half.”
Oro Negro is using these conversations in a legal battle, where they claim that Pemex violated the contracts they signed because the company refused to pay bribes.
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