MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Former Mexican Cabinet minister Luis Videgaray has been banned from holding jobs or positions in public service for 10 years for failing to properly disclose his assets while in office, the Mexican government said on Tuesday.
The Public Administration Ministry (SFP) said it had applied the maximum possible sanction against Videgaray for making incorrect declarations for three years running during his time as finance minister and later as foreign minister.
Videgaray, who was widely viewed as the most influential minister under Mexico’s last president, Enrique Pena Nieto, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Videgaray has consistently rejected any allegations of wrongdoing.
The SFP said on Tuesday it had in 2019 opened an investigation into Videgaray over his possible involvement in the 2014 purchase by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) of a fertilizer plant known as AgroNitrogenados, which later caused a scandal.
Asked publicly in February 2020 about his role in scandals in Mexico, including investigations relating to Pemex, Videgaray said that he had done good things and made mistakes as a policymaker, but that he stood by his track record.
Videgaray was notified of the sanction on May 11, but the news was not made public until now due to the campaign for mid-term elections, which were held on Sunday, the SFP said.
Mexico’s government argues the plant deal wasted millions of dollars in public money and was tainted by corruption.
The acquisition of AgroNitrogenados forms part of a broader investigation by federal prosecutors into alleged graft under the Pena Nieto administration.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador alleges that the preceding administration schemed to bring about the break-up of Pemex to benefit private interests.
The SFP said the sanction handed down against Videgaray was independent of any other investigations that may be under way.
(Reporting by Diego Ore, writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Dave Graham and Howard Goller)
