Lozoya’s offer to repair damage is dismissed

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador considered little the 3.4 million dollars offered as reparation for the damage by the former director of Petróleos Mexicanos, Emilio Lozoya Austin, to be acquitted in the case of the sale of the Agronitrogenados scrap plant.

“Ah, no, it gives very little. The Public Ministry sees that and Pemex sees it, but that is not the amount. In other words, here it is not possible to be sure how much the damage was, but there are expert reports and there are audits, ”he asserted.

In a press conference at the National Palace, the head of the federal Executive considered that if the businessman Alonso Ancira promised to return 200 million dollars for selling a junk plant to Pemex, a fair expert opinion must be carried out by the Public Ministry and the judge of the case so that Lozoya can obtain freedom.

“So this applies to everyone. If there is no return of money, if there is no repair of the damage, then we cannot agree with the prosecution or with the judges, who are ultimately in charge of deciding on this matter.

If Mr. Lozoya is willing, his lawyers, to repair the damage, well, there is a possibility that he can carry out his process in freedom, but the damage has to be repaired,” he asserted.

López Obrador said that repairing the damage “that helps a lot” to his government, and gave as an example the 100 million dollars that Alonso Ancira has returned so far.

“For example, these 100 million dollars that have already been recovered from the excessive payment at the Agronitrogenados plant are for fertilizers, it is for the producers and it is to produce food, but we are in a position to reach agreements,” he stated. .

The federal president said that it is no longer like before, in cases of corruption, politicians were imprisoned and then released, and even the confiscated or insured resources are returned to them. Without mentioning him by name, he cited the case of Raúl Salinas de Gortari, brother of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, as an example.

“Imagine, there was once, not long ago, a brother of a president who went to jail, they accused him of money laundering, even a banking institution in the United States was involved, because it was shown that 100 million dollars had been transferred. dollars from Mexico through this famous bank from the United States to Switzerland or I don’t know where, even the United States Senate intervened, it was demonstrated. He passes the time, he gets out of jail and they give him everything back. That’s how it was before, ”he questioned.

jorge.monroy@eleconomista.mx