Mexican former minister detained, deepening president’s anti-graft quest
MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) - A judge ordered a former Mexican Cabinet minister to be detained pending a trial over suspected losses to taxpayers, her lawyer said yesterday, opening a new front in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s campaign to eradicate corruption.
The detention of former social development minister Rosario Robles is likely to ramp up scrutiny of the administration of Lopez Obrador’s predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto, whose 2012-2018 presidency was plagued by graft scandals.
Lopez Obrador has made rooting out corruption the cornerstone of his career, though he took office in December saying he did not want to rake through the past.
That upset some supporters of the president who felt he should be doing more to punish wrongdoing from previous governments. In recent months, investigators have begun to close in on some prominent figures in the last administration.
Lopez Obrador told his regular morning news conference he was aware of Robles’ detention and said judicial authorities would decide whether others were implicated in the case.
“But it’s not our business, and I’m not Pontius Pilate either,” he said, referring to the Roman governor of Judea who oversaw the trial of Jesus.
Still, when asked whether the Robles case represented an achievement for his administration, Lopez Obrador said: “I believe it’s an accomplishment that there is no impunity.”
Prosecutors have accused Robles, a former party colleague of Lopez Obrador, of “improper exercise of public service.”