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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2005 
Mexican Opposition Party May Seek Investigation into Finances of Rival Presidential Candidate
 Associated Press
| | Roberto Madrazo, a primary candidate for Mexico's former ruling PRI party, during a debate with Everardo Moreno, last week in Mexico City. (AP/Marco Ugarte) |
Mexico City – Mexico's largest leftist party said Wednesday it may ask federal authorities to investigate whether a presidential candidate from a rival party has hidden millions of dollars in illicit funds in overseas bank accounts.
Gerardo Fernandez, a spokesman for the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, said in an interview that officials may ask the federal Attorney General's office and Treasury Department to look into the finances of Roberto Madrazo, the likely presidential nominee for the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
According to a report in the Mexican news magazine Proceso last weekend, Madrazo deposited US$30 million (euro25.5 million) in bank accounts controlled by his wife, Isabel Parra, in the United States and Germany.
The story did not say where the money allegedly came from. Fernandez appeared to imply that it may have been illegally obtained, remarking, "This is the tip of the iceberg, and we think more evidence will come to light about Madrazo's dark fortune."
Madrazo campaign representative Ady Garcia said Wednesday that the Proceso reports are false and that Madrazo plans to make public his personal finances in order to debunk any further allegations of wrongdoing.
The PRI controlled Mexico's presidency from 1929 until losing to President Vicente Fox, of the National Action Party, in 2000.
Fox is barred by the constitution from seeking a second, six-year term. The presidential candidate from Fernandez's party, former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leads many opinion polls to replace him when voters go to the polls next July.
Questions over multimillion-dollar bank accounts and real estate allegedly owned by PRI member and former Mexico state Gov. Arturo Montiel forced Montiel to drop his bid against Madrazo for the party's nomination last month. His departure left Madrazo virtually unopposed for the party nomination. |
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