AMLO Shows Video of Mexico Officials With Bags Full of Cash
Mexico President Shows Video of Officials With Bags Full of Cash
(Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador showed a video of former senate officials counting bags full of pesos, calling it evidence of the “filth” of previous administrations.
The four minute-long footage -- which was originally leaked on YouTube on Sunday -- shows officials who worked in the senate during the previous administration counting thousands of pesos in alleged bribes that are stuffed into duffel bags. Its veracity has not been confirmed by Mexican authorities.
Lopez Obrador showed the video during his daily press briefing, calling on the Attorney General to confirm whether it is part of a testimony from former Petroleos Mexicanos Chief Executive Emilio Lozoya -- who has accused former President Enrique Pena Nieto of ordering him to funnel bribes from Brazilian builder Odebrecht into the 2012 presidential campaign.
AMLO, as the president is known, has alleged that senators received bribes to approve the opening of Mexico’s energy sector for private investment -- a reform he is considering reversing. Lozoya also said Pena Nieto and his finance minister had ordered him to pay off lawmakers to back the energy reform, according to prosecutors.
“We’re helping to spread this so you can see how much money they received: suitcases,” said Lopez Obrador. “According to Mr. Lozoya’s testimony, part of this money was used to approve the so-called energy reform.”
The Attorney General’s Office responded that the video hasn’t been presented as part of any testimony to prosecutors. But the office didn’t specify whether the video may be presented at a later time, after Lozoya told prosecutors that he has at least one video backing his claims.
Upended Politics
Emilio Lozoya’s testimony has the potential to upend Mexico’s political elite after he was extradited from Spain earlier last month. The former Pemex head has been accused by public prosecutors of taking millions of dollars worth of bribes. He is now a protected witness.
The video publicized by AMLO shows men unpacking neatly-wrapped plastic bags full of stacked pesos in an unadorned office. The officials shown in the video count and quibble over the final amounts.
Francisco Dominguez Servien, the governor of Mexico’s Queretaro state, said on Twitter he had fired his private secretary for appearing in the video. Dominguez Servien denied any knowledge of the alleged illegal acts and said he would would cooperate with authorities.
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