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The mother of Emilio Lozoya , the former Pemex director and a close confidant to former President, Enrique Peña Nieto , has been arrested in Germany , Lozoya’s lawyer has revealed.
Lozoya and several of his family members have been accused of involvement in a bribery and money laundering probe involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht , part of a corruption case now being pursued by the government of López Obrador.
While senior officials across Latin America have been brought to justice in a series of corruption investigations in recent years, including high-profile cases from Guatemala to Brazil, Mexico has so far lagged behind despite López Obrador ’s focus on eradicating corruption .
Javier Coello
, Lozoya’s lawyer said that Gilda Austin y Solís , 71, was arrested in connection with money laundering charges stemming from a USD $155,000 deposit made to her bank account and that was used to pay taxes and legal fees in a real estate deal.
Coello
said she has committed no crime .
He described Austin as “scared” and said he would be speaking with lawyers in Germany .
“She was on vacation there. She was not fleeing from justice,” Cuello said.
In a statement, the Attorney General’s Office said that her arrest was due to Austin’s “probable responsibility in the commission of crimes involving o perations using resources obtained from illicit resources and criminal association in the Odebrecht case” but said that German authorities have yet to officially announce the arrest.
In May, the Finance Ministry announced it had presented prosecutors with three charges against Emilio Lozoya related to “acts of corruption.” Arrest warrants for Lozoya and three relatives were issued earlier this month.
Lozoya’s wife, Marielle Eckes , is German, and also the target of an outstanding arrest warran t along with Lozoya’s sister Gilda Lozoya .
The probe into Lozoya, who served as Pemex’s director from 2012 to 2016 , focuses on money transfers made by steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico to a shell company allegedly set up by Odebrecht to pay bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts.
That shell firm in turn allegedly sent the funds to Lozoya and his family.
Gilda Austin
y Solís has been married to Emilio Lozoya Thalmann for over 40 years, the Energy Minister under the Gortari administration.
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