The Mexican Prosecutor's Office accuses Ricardo Anaya of receiving bribes for the approval of the energy reform

Opposition leader Ricardo Anaya in a file image.Marco Ugarte / AP

The Government of Mexico closes the siege on the leader of the opposition Ricardo Anaya. This Wednesday through a statement, the Attorney General's Office (FGR) has assured that the former PAN presidential candidate received bribes of 6.8 million pesos to vote in favor of the energy reform in 2014 and thus participated in a Criminal plot whose purpose was to deliver the Mexican oil assets to foreign companies, since there is evidence that he did vote as a deputy in favor of the energy reform. After the prosecution's accusation was made known, the one who was a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections and a possible candidate again for the 2024 elections by the conservative PAN, has described the accusations of the FGR against him as "madness".In a message on his Twitter account, Anaya has specified that when the money was supposedly delivered, he had not been a deputy for six months and has emphasized that a vote in favor is not proof of bribery.

The federal agency announced that the accusation against Anaya is based on the testimonies of the former director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya and three other witnesses, who claim to have sent or delivered money, or have seen it in the office of the state oil company.

According to the FGR version, Ricardo Anaya received in the Chamber of Deputies the 6.8 million pesos from a person "trusted" by Lozoya himself in 2014. The statement also reported that the case against him has been prosecuted. PAN, who is summoned for this Thursday in the Federal Criminal Justice Center of the North Prison, for a hearing in which the FGR intends to charge him with bribery, money laundering and criminal association.

More information

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For a year, the Prosecutor's Office has been looking for a possible bribery crime behind Anaya and a dozen public officials, accused by the alleged head of the Mexican branch of the

, the former director of Pemex, Emilio Lozoya, arrested and turned into a witness key collaborator of this Administration. Anaya has denounced that it is a strategy to eliminate him in the face of the next presidential elections and has announced that he will leave the country. His decision to leave Mexico has stirred the debate on the persecution of political rivals and the two existing measuring sticks according to the degree of presidential anger. In front of an Emilio Lozoya, the former director of Pemex who has not set foot in jail thanks to his confessions before the Prosecutor's Office, Ricardo Anaya is charged with crimes that involve 30 years in prison.

#FGRInforma: Public version of the Odebrecht / Ricardo “N” case.

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- FGR Mexico (@FGRMexico) August 25, 2021

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