Luis Videgaray, in the crosshairs of the Mexican Prosecutor's Office

Former Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray at a ceremony at the United Nations Bebeto Matthews / AP

For the second time, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) presented an arrest warrant against the former strongman of the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto, Luis Videgaray.

On both occasions, a criminal judge from the Norte prison sent the case back to the Public Prosecutor's Office to make the necessary adjustments, but it is a matter of days before a third attempt to take him to jail takes shape.

Among other charges, the FGR accuses Videgaray of bribery and treason.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself confirmed this Tuesday the attempts of the prosecution, an independent body of the executive.

The journalists then asked him if a similar arrest warrant was being prepared against Peña Nieto, to which he replied that it would be the justice system that will take care of it.

Luis Videgaray, former Secretary of the Treasury and Foreign Relations during the Peña Nieto government (2012-2018), who left the University of Massachusetts a few weeks ago to reside in Israel, is the highest position against whom the Prosecutor's Office has requested an arrest warrant for illegal financing from the Odebrecht company to the Peña Nieto campaign.

The ongoing investigation is the result of the confession made in August and expanded in October by the former director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya.

Lozoya has become the main whistleblower against his old friends, collaborators and opposition leaders, while he continues the process at large.

"Between Peña Nieto and Videgaray there was an agreement to implement an organized apparatus of power that –from the upper echelons of the regime– implemented what was necessary to obtain benefits that affect the sovereignty of Mexico, subjecting it to individuals and groups, nationals and foreigners" Lozoya declared in August during a statement that shook the pillars of the country.

With this testimony, the Prosecutor's Office headed by Alejandro Gertz Manero has drawn up 100 pages where he accuses Videgaray of five crimes: one electoral, two of bribery, one of criminal association and another of treason.

Regarding the crimes of bribery and treason, the Attorney General's Office considers that Videgaray acted against the nation by bribing several opposition leaders to approve a series of reforms that would allow the entry of foreign companies into the exploitation of Mexican oil which 'would subject the integrity of the nation to foreigners' such as Odebrecht, revealed the Latinus portal directed by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola.

Videgaray delivered between 2012 and 2015, more than 120 million pesos to various opposition deputies, including former presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya, Ernesto Cordero, Jorge Luis Lavalle and David Penchyna.

For the prosecution, there are reasons to charge Videgaray with a crime of treason against the fatherland, punishable by a sentence of five to 40 years in prison.

Regarding illegal financing, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Videgaray received 1.6 million dollars from Odebrecht for the PRI campaign.

From before reaching the presidency and throughout the six-year term, Videgaray acted as the man in the shadow of Enrique Peña Nieto.

He was the

charge of matters as diverse as unblocking a vote in the Organization of American States (OAS) or unblocking a teachers' strike.

Now the prosecution also accuses him of receiving money in full hands for an electoral campaign that had an overwhelming amount of resources.

Since he left power, he was director of the World Project on Artificial Intelligence Policies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he left in October to seek refuge and residence in Israel, a country where he would try to protect himself from possible extradition to Mexico given the rigor of the treaty of extradition between both countries.

Videgaray chose to live in the same country where the former director of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the PGR, Tomás Zerón, fled, on whom a request for extradition from the Mexican government already weighs.

After the attempts to imprison Videgaray, all eyes are now turning to former President Peña Nieto, who has resided in Madrid since he handed over power two years ago.