Top Electoral Crimes Prosecutor Fired for Revealing Corruption Probe Into Ruling Party Agence France-Presse
go to original October 21, 2017

While attorney general says Santiago Nieto was discharged for violating agency rules, opposition lawmakers claim it was because he was investigating bribes in 2012 (Proceso)

Mexico’s government fired the country’s top electoral crimes prosecutor on Friday for revealing an investigation that opponents say suggested possible corrupt financing for the ruling party.

Government critics called it the latest attempt by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to insulate itself from corruption inquiries.

The Attorney General’s Office said in a short statement that electoral crimes prosecutor Santiago Nieto was fired for violating agency rules but did not specify which rules.

An official with the office said Nieto had revealed information about an ongoing investigation. The official was not authorised to be quoted by name and did not say what the investigation was about. Criminal investigations are not public in Mexico.

But opposition parties said Nieto was fired because he was investigating whether bribe money paid by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht had made its way into PRI campaign coffers.

Nieto had made the revelation in an interview published on Wednesday by the newspaper Reforma. In it, he said there was “information” suggesting Odebrecht in 2012 may have paid money into an account controlled by the former head of the national oil company, who at the time played a role in President Enrique Pena Nieto’s campaign.

Read the rest at South China Morning Post

Related: Graft Probe Into Mexico President’s Ally Poses Tricky Challenge Ahead of Elections (Reuters)

Related: Mayor of Ixtlahuacan Shot Dead by Gunmen in the Mexican State of Colima (teleSUR)

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