MEXICO CITY - Mexico issued an arrest warrant for a former chief of Mexican oil company Pemex, government-owned media said on Tuesday, in the first blow against ex-President Enrique Pena Nieto’s inner circle since a new government took office promising to clean up politics.
Lozoya’s lawyer Javier Coello said he had not received any official notification of an arrest warrant. In a move related to the case, Spanish police detained steel magnate Alonso Ancira on Tuesday, his company Altos Hornos de Mexico said in a statement. The company sold a fertilizer plant to Pemex while Lozoya was at the helm.
“Operations with possibly illicit resources linked to acts of corruption were detected, particularly transfers of financial resources deposited by Altos Hornos de Mexico in an Odebrecht phantom shell company, and part of the money reached Mr. Lozoya’s accounts,” Nieto said on Mexican radio.
Worked with Pemex 20 years ago and they were openly and blatantly corrupt then.