After Genaro García Luna , Mexico’s Security Minister during Felipe Calderón’s administration was arrested in the U.S., accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel , the Mexican government has started investigating the former security chief.
Last week it emerged that a few years ago, the
Interior Ministry transferred millions to a bank account linked to one of the companies owned by García Luna.
Now, Juan Marcos Gutiérrez , the Undersecretary at the Interior Ministry during Francisco Blake Mora ’s time leading the ministry from July 14th, 2010 to November 11, 2011, during Felipe Calderón ’s administration, has rejected the deviation of public resources to companies linked to Genaro García Luna.
In a statement released on December 19th and that was shared by former President Felipe Calderón, Juan Marcos Gutiérrez denies the allegations and said that it is unfair to make general accusations without mentioning specific dates or the people involved. He added that the accusations hurt the memory of Blake Mora , who died in a helicopter crash in 2011.
Moreover, he explained that in 2010, the Interior Ministry spent MXN $2,922 million and that 80% of the resources were allocated to operational expenses. He added that no issues came up during previous audits .
Calderón
then tweeted that two of his former Interior Ministers, Fernando Gómez Mont and Alejandro Poir é, had also denied the deviation of public resources to companies owned by García Luna .
The former President added that the current administration should present further information in regard to the alleged transfer .
Furthermore, Santiago Nieto , the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit ( UIF ) confirmed that authorities are investigating money transfers made by the Interior Ministry and other government departments to companies linked to Genaro García Luna during the Peña Nieto administration .
Santiago Nieto told reporters that “Evidently there are financial operations and irregular transactions linked to Mr. García Luna during both administrations, in the Interior Ministry and in different spaces, not only in the Interior Ministry, there are others.”
Meanwhile, President López Obrador said that once García Luna faces his U.S. trial, it will be revealed whether or not Felipe Calderón knew that public resources were transferred to bank accounts linked to the former security chief.
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