The Prosecutor's Office accuses Peña Nieto of directing a “criminal power apparatus” and calls for the arrest of Videgaray

Former President Enrique Peña Nieto and his then-wife Angélica Rivera at the commemorative parade of Mexico's Independence Day.Moisés Pablo / Moisés Pablo

The judicial siege against Enrique Peña Nieto was closed a little more this Thursday when the intentions of the Attorney General's Office (FGR) to accuse the former president of three crimes that began even before his arrival to power became known.

For the Prosecutor's Office, Peña Nieto played a central role in the

and accuses him of bribery, treason and electoral crime, according to the document published in the newspaper

.

Although he does not request his arrest, the Prosecutor's Office does request the imprisonment of his closest collaborator in the six years of Government (2012-2018) Luis Videgaray.

However, the federal authority clearly points out Peña Nieto by saying that it had its “own criminal power apparatus”, from which it launched a strategy to buy legislators for the approval of energy reforms with money from the construction company. Brazilian Odebrecht.

According to the leaked document, Peña Nieto is the mediate author of the "theory of control or dominance of the will through an apparatus of organized power", through which the will of those who made the payments, the Secretary of the Treasury and Chancellor, Luis Videgaray and the ex-director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya.

“Peña Nieto had his own criminal power apparatus, with whose help he implemented a strategy of co-opting the will of the legislators and had a command and directive power over his relatives in the Government that, of course, was not symbolic, but which also included the ability to give specific orders, which they were obliged to comply with, "says the Prosecutor's Office.

So far, the institution led by Alejandro Gertz Manero is silent on the publication of the document, although those familiar with the case point out that it is a leak from the higher echelons of the Prosecutor's Office.

Due to the stamps and registration number, the 100-page document is the request for an arrest warrant that the Prosecutor's Office sent to a judge at the end of October, but which was rejected on the grounds that all the requirements to order the arrest of Videgaray.

However, the three accusations reveal the line followed by the Prosecutor's Office, the highest shot fired so far by Mexican justice in its review process of the Peña Nieto mandate.

So far, the former president, currently living in Madrid, is silent about the serious accusations against him allegedly committed from the 2011 campaign until the end of his government in November 2018. The Prosecutor's Office only requests the arrest against Videgaray, although he leaves Of course, the ex-president used Lozoya and the latter as "instruments."

In the case of the crime of bribery, according to the document published by

, Videgaray distributed more than 121 million pesos to former presidential candidate Ricardo Anaya, to PAN legislators Ernesto Cordero and Jorge Luis Lavalle and to PRI deputy David Penchyna.

The money was, presumably, to obtain the vote of the legislators in favor of the energy reform, approved at the end of 2013. Regarding the crime of treason, the Prosecutor's Office argues that after the so-called “structural reforms” foreign companies benefited as Odebrecht to take advantage of the exploitation of natural resources owned by the Nation.

"The criminal acts of bribery and treason arose at his own disposition (Peña Nieto)," said the Prosecutor's Office.

The fan of the prosecution's accusations began with the arrest in February of Emilio Lozoya, former director of the oil parastatal Pemex.

After several months, a fugitive, Lozoya was arrested on February 12 in Marbella, in the south of Spain, accused of money laundering of criminal association and bribery.

Lozoya became, since then, an informer of his former bosses and a partner in the government.

The former Pemex director extradited to Mexico on July 17, aboard a plane sent by López Obrador.

The authorities tried to make believe that he would be admitted to the North Prison, although in reality he was taken to a hospital for an alleged "severe anemia" and since then he has followed the process from his home.

In his accusation, Lozoya pointed out to Peña Nieto and Videgaray of orchestrating a mechanism of corruption from the power itself.

In addition, he delivered some videos, exhibited by López Obrador himself, where prominent names of the opposition receive millionaire bribes in exchange for approving the energy reforms