A Mexican judge granted procedural freedom this Tuesday to Emilio Lozoya, former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the main person implicated in the country in the bribery scandal of the Brazilian Odebrechtso he will remain under house arrest, according to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
“Today, the amparo judge Juan Pedro Contreras Navarro, leaves him (Lozoya) in procedural freedom so that his trial can continue, because he considers that there is no risk of him escaping from the action of justice, ignoring “ignoring that said individual was apprehended in Spain, after having fled,” The FGR reported in a statement.
Lozoya, who directed the State oil company from 2012 to 2016, had been imprisoned for just over two years and was seeking parole with a change of precautionary measures to house arrest with the use of an electronic bracelet, but the decision had been postponed. on several occasions.
Despite the decision, the FGR made it “very clear” that Lozoya “has not won any trial to which the Public Ministry of the Federation has subjected him” and stressed that the former director has only obtained from judges and magistrates “totally unfair and procedural privileges.” disproportionate.”
He pointed out that these resolutions were issued in a “partial and illegal” manner by judges and magistrates, whom he accused of excluding evidence obtained legally in Brazil and Switzerland.
Likewise, he argued that the judge benefited Lozoya “unfairly” by exempting him from repairing the damage in another case of alleged corruption, that of the fraudulent purchase of the Agronitrogenados plant, by alleging that the payment had already been made by businessman Alonso Ancira, owner of Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA).
He argued that these “unfair, inequitable and partial” privileges are “unacceptable,” which is why he will immediately file an appeal for review “to obtain justice in this case.”
Lozoya, arrested in Spain at the beginning of 2020 and extradited to Mexico in the middle of that year, has two different proceedings before the Mexican Justice, one for the overpriced purchase of Agronitrogenados from the businessman Ancira in exchange for bribes.
And the second case is for having allegedly received 10.5 million dollars in bribes from the Brazilian Odebrecht during the campaign and subsequent Government of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), accused of using the money to approve the questioned reform that opened the energy sector. to private investment.
The latter is what kept him in prison.
Lozoya was the highest-profile former prison official of Peña Nieto’s presidency, which was part of the anti-corruption fight of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The FGR has requested a sentence of up to 39 years in prison for Lozoya for criminal association, money laundering and bribery.
Source: Gestion
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