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By Chris Covert
Citing a concern to "justify the origins of such resources", Partido Accion National (PAN) president Gustavo Madero Munoz filed a complaint with the Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR) or attorney general demanding an investigation into the origins of the MP $25 million (USD $1.9 million) seized from two Veracruz state political operatives in Toluca, Mexico state Friday.
The filing, colloquially known as a denunciation, follows the arrest of Miguel Morales Robles, an employee of Partido Revoluionario Institucional (PRI) Veracruz governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa, and Said Sandoval Zepeda, who is reportedly on Governor Duarte's security staff after the two men had flown aboard an official Veracruz state aircraft carrying two packages -- later revealed to be a suitcase and a backpack -- containing MP $25 million, all in cash.
| With the new filing he is attempting to place the financial antics -- to call them what they are -- of PRI politicians and officials front and center in the debate over who should lead Mexico for the next six years. |
Morales Robles reportedly had on his person a letter from Veracruz state offices stating the money is "transportation money", and was being flown to pay 3 Industries for services to be rendered in three upcoming festivals in Veracruz City.
In an explanation provided Monday evening, Veracruz state government spokesman Gina Dominguez told an internet radio station that the cash had been gathered as a counter to the pre-holiday rush. The explanation has been met on Twitter with good deal of skepticism as various individuals have protested that the exchange looks like money laundering.
In Mexico it is not illegal for government officials to have large sums of cash on their person.
Charges were levelled by rival politicians in Veracruz state that the money had been taken to Mexico state to be used in the political campaign of PRI frontrunner Enrique Pena Nieto, which is illegal.
A similar charge that state money was being diverted to PRI electoral activities, was also laid against former PRI leader Humberto Moreira Valdes last fall as Moreira fought calls both from inside his own party and from rivals that he step down as PRI president until he provided an explanation to the massive run up of public debt in his state of Coahuila while he was governor.
Bowing to pressure, Moreira stepped down as PRI president last December 2nd.
To date the money seized last Monday remains in the possession of the PGR, which the agency refuses to release without an explanation of where the money originated.
In a press release PRI president, Pedro Joaquin Coldwell -- Moreira's replacement -- asked the two other major parties, PAN and Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD), not to politicize the standoff between the government of Duarte de Ochoa and the PAN-staffed PGR.
Citing two other cases Pedro JoaquÃn Coldwell claimed were politically motivated, drug charges against former Jalisco state governor Arturo Zamora and against former Guerrero state governor Manuel Anorve, he said in his statement that charges that the money was being diverted from Veracruz state coffers to the election campaign of Pena Nieto were "willful and reckless" and "absolutely false."
Madero Munoz -- who is credited with forcing the resignation of Moreira, who left his state of Coahuila as governor with record breaking public debt -- is apparently taking a lesson from the saga of Moreira. With the new filing he is attempting to place the financial antics -- to call them what they are -- of PRI politicians and officials front and center in the debate over who should lead Mexico for the next six years.
At the moment, Madero Munoz is raising a ruckus over financial matters of PRI governors, which in Mexico is apparently a fat and easy target since PRI owns more than half of Mexico's statehouses. Last summer a report showing the large number of states with record breaking debt, including Coahuila, was used against Moreira and will likely be used in some way against PRI frontrunner Pena Nieto, who left his office as governor of Mexico state in 2011 when his term ended.
The Mexican electoral process is still in the candidate selection phase.