Battling favoritism accusations, Mexico's scandal-hit President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Tuesday an investigation into houses that he, his wife and his finance minister bought from government contractors.
Pena Nieto, who has been under fire over the purchases of the luxurious homes, denied that there were any conflicts of interest in the transactions with companies that have won lucrative government contracts.
"I am conscious that the reports have generated the appearance of something wrongful," he said.
"This has never been the case in my responsibility as president or in my previous public offices," Pena Nieto said in televised remarks announcing a series of measures to combat corruption in Mexico.
"Reaffirming my commitment with transparency and accountability, I have asked the public service ministry to investigate and resolve whether there were, or not, conflicts of interest," Pena Nieto said.
The Mexican leader presented a new anti-corruption czar, minister for public service Virgilio Andrade Martinez, and asked him to form a panel of experts to review the results of the investigation.
But experts said the president should have launched an independent investigation instead of putting it in the hands of a ministry.
"What will the new minister find? Nothing. A subordinate will hardly question his boss or the most important minister of the cabinet," Marcos Hernandez, researcher at the non-profit research organization Mexico Evalua, told AFP.
- Mansions, golf, bullet train -
Mexican investigative journalists revealed in November that first lady Angelica Rivera, a former soap opera star, bought a multimillion-dollar Mexico City mansion from a government contractor six months before her husband was elected president in 2012.
A scandal erupted because a few days before the news report, Pena Nieto canceled a $3.7 billion contract that had been awarded to a Chinese-Mexican consortium that included the contractor, Grupo Higa.
Then in December, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray acknowledged that he had also bought a home from the same contractor two months before Pena Nieto took office in December 2012.
In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pena Nieto bought a house from another government contractor in a golf course in 2005, when he was starting his term as governor of Mexico State.
Pena Nieto, Rivera and Videgaray have all denied any wrongdoing.
But the revelations came as Pena Nieto faces the biggest challenge of his presidency over his administration's handling of the presumed murder of 43 college students by gang-linked police.
Andrade Martinez, a former economy ministry and elections official, said his job is not to investigate the real estate contracts per se.
He told local radio he would look into the deals between the government and the companies "to check and conclude if they respected all the rules and if from the combination of relationships ... we can determine that there is a conflict of interest."
Battling favoritism accusations, Mexico’s scandal-hit President Enrique Pena Nieto announced on Tuesday an investigation into houses that he, his wife and his finance minister bought from government contractors.
Pena Nieto, who has been under fire over the purchases of the luxurious homes, denied that there were any conflicts of interest in the transactions with companies that have won lucrative government contracts.
“I am conscious that the reports have generated the appearance of something wrongful,” he said.
“This has never been the case in my responsibility as president or in my previous public offices,” Pena Nieto said in televised remarks announcing a series of measures to combat corruption in Mexico.
“Reaffirming my commitment with transparency and accountability, I have asked the public service ministry to investigate and resolve whether there were, or not, conflicts of interest,” Pena Nieto said.
The Mexican leader presented a new anti-corruption czar, minister for public service Virgilio Andrade Martinez, and asked him to form a panel of experts to review the results of the investigation.
But experts said the president should have launched an independent investigation instead of putting it in the hands of a ministry.
“What will the new minister find? Nothing. A subordinate will hardly question his boss or the most important minister of the cabinet,” Marcos Hernandez, researcher at the non-profit research organization Mexico Evalua, told AFP.
– Mansions, golf, bullet train –
Mexican investigative journalists revealed in November that first lady Angelica Rivera, a former soap opera star, bought a multimillion-dollar Mexico City mansion from a government contractor six months before her husband was elected president in 2012.
A scandal erupted because a few days before the news report, Pena Nieto canceled a $3.7 billion contract that had been awarded to a Chinese-Mexican consortium that included the contractor, Grupo Higa.
Then in December, Finance Minister Luis Videgaray acknowledged that he had also bought a home from the same contractor two months before Pena Nieto took office in December 2012.
In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pena Nieto bought a house from another government contractor in a golf course in 2005, when he was starting his term as governor of Mexico State.
Pena Nieto, Rivera and Videgaray have all denied any wrongdoing.
But the revelations came as Pena Nieto faces the biggest challenge of his presidency over his administration’s handling of the presumed murder of 43 college students by gang-linked police.
Andrade Martinez, a former economy ministry and elections official, said his job is not to investigate the real estate contracts per se.
He told local radio he would look into the deals between the government and the companies “to check and conclude if they respected all the rules and if from the combination of relationships … we can determine that there is a conflict of interest.”
