MEXICO CITY — The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico has launched its first major anticorruption prosecution, delivering on a central campaign promise by taking aim at corruption inside the ailing state-owned oil company. Bribery and tax fraud charges have been filed against Emilio Lozoya Austin, the former head of the state-run oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, who was a top ally of the former president, Enrique Peña Nieto, officials said Tuesday. Mr. Lozoya is accused of receiving bribes in connection with the oil company’s purchase of a fertilizer plant, the officials said. The case against Mr. Lozoya stems from a sprawling, hemisphere-wide probe into the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht and its orchestration of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin American history. Since the scandal erupted several years ago, Odebrecht has admitted to having paid about $800 million in bribes to leaders in a dozen countries throughout the Americas to secure lucrative contracts.

Source: New York Times May 28, 2019 22:52 UTC