The former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Emilio Lozoya Austin, received a second justified preventive detention, now for the irregular purchase, by the oil company, of the Agro Nitrogenados plant.
In a continuity hearing in federal courts of the CDMX North Prison, Lozoya appeared together with his lawyers before the judge, José Artemio Zúñiga Mendoza, who determined, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), to modify the precautionary measure. for justified preventive detention, in a situation similar to that of last week when he was imprisoned for the Odebrecht case.
In this way, Lozoya Austin will remain in prison during the criminal process that is being followed in both cases.
Offers to repair damage
During the hearing, Miguel Ontiveros and Alejandro Rojas, Lozoya’s lawyers, presented to the FGR the request for the termination of the criminal action against their client, in exchange for Lozoya guaranteeing the reparation of the damage in the Agro Nitrogenados and Odebrecht. The former director of Pemex said that this offer does not imply acknowledging his guilt but only cooperating with the authorities.
The lawyers reported that during the criminal process, Lozoya will offer real estate and cash to repair the damage for 3.4 million dollars in the Agro Nitrogenados case and 1.6 million dollars in the Odebrecht case. Ontiveros said that his client has property and money that allow him to raise those amounts.
Prior to the hearing at the North Prison, Ontiveros said that the offer will be made to the FGR, as well as to Petróleos Mexicanos and the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF); the latter two have the status of victims in the criminal process.
The lawyer Ontiveros indicated that Lozoya is willing to use a criterion of opportunity where he can show an entire organized structure of corruption in the previous administration.
“This defense expresses its position regarding the illegitimacy of the justified preventive detention imposed on Mr. Emilio Lozoya Austin. Likewise, it will request that within the framework of a reparatory agreement, the damage caused be repaired and the criminal action be terminated.
“On the other hand, it will ratify the full disposition of Mr. Lozoya Austin for the purposes of ratifying his complaint before the jurisdictional body, in such a way that within the framework of the opportunity criterion, it will continue to collaborate with the institutions of the Mexican State. The foregoing in order to demonstrate the structure of an organized power apparatus that, verified in the past, implemented a nationwide corruption policy with transactional impact, ”the litigant affirmed.
Sale of the “scrap” plant
The irregular sale of the Agro Nitrogenados plant was exhibited in 2017 by the then leader of Morena, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who accused a “great transaction” in the purchase and sale of the plant; He argued that it was a “junk” industry and despite this it was sold to Pemex at a cost of 200 million dollars.
After his electoral triumph in 2018, President López Obrador revealed that there was a complaint in the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (currently the Attorney General of the Republic) for this case, and since 2019 the investigation began. This led the prosecution to request and obtain an arrest warrant against the businessman Alonso Ancira and the former director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya.
The FGR argues that the purchase of the plant located in the Pajaritos complex, Veracruz, meant a financial deterioration of 4,206 million 652,220 pesos for Pemex Fertilizantes Pacifico SA de CV, plus 578 million pesos that it allocated to capitalize Agroindustries and fulfill commitments of debt and operation, in addition to the fact that Pemex had a negative impact on its equity by having allocated an amount of 150 million 862,375 dollars to date.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx