A Mexican federal judge issued an arrest warrant against the former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Carlos Alberto Treviño Medina for not having appeared in September at a judicial hearing, where he had to face the accusations against him for alleged acts of corruption linked to the case Odebrecht.
A judge from the Federal Criminal Justice Center, based in the ‘El Altiplano’ prison in Almoloya de Juárez (State of Mexico), accused that Treviño Medina is “abducted from justice,” for which he issued an arrest warrant in his against, they report local media.
Nevertheless, Treviño Medina would be in the US., as confirmed this Friday by his lawyer, Óscar Zamudio.
“We are not aware that there is an arrest warrant against Carlos Treviño. If there is one, it is likely because he did not appear at a hearing on September 7”, clarified the defender, in an interview with the journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva on Radio Fórmula.
Accusation of the Prosecutor’s Office
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) accuses Treviño Medina of his alleged responsibility in the crimes of operations with resources of illicit origin and criminal association.
The former official was due to appear at an initial hearing on September 7, but did not show up to the summons, arguing that the conditions of “legality” and “legal security” necessary to guarantee a “fair trial” did not exist.
Links with Odebrecht
The investigations against Treviño Medina began as a result of a complaint filed by another former Pemex head, Emilio Lozoya, who this week was admitted to preventive detention while his trial for bribery, money laundering and criminal association in the framework of the Odebrecht case.
According to Lozoya, a former director of Odebrecht in Mexico, Luis Alberto de Meneses Weyll, told him that the Braskem subsidiary would have delivered bribes between 2010 and 2012, during the government of Felipe Calderón, for the “approval of the Ethylene XXI contract”, in reference to a petrochemical complex located in Veracruz.
Part of the agreement was for Braskem to supply ethane through the Ethylene XXI plant at a preferential rate and to the detriment of Pemex’s interests. Lozoya affirmed that, when the continuity of the contract was negotiated during the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto, the then Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Luis Videgaray, managed the delivery of bribes to senior officials.
“On September 20, 2014, 4 million pesos were delivered [más de 300.000 dólares al cambio de entonces] Carlos Treviño Medina“, as stated by Lozoya in the complaint filed with the FGR.
The delivery of bribes was carried out through an intermediary from Videgaray, Norberto Gallardo, and took place at the personal home of Treviño Medina, according to Lozoya.
Since Lozoya’s complaint was made public, Treviño Medina denied “flatly” his involvement in the Odebrecht-related bribery network.
