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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2006 
Mexican Congress to Question Gaming Officials
 Roberto Garduño & Enrique Méndez - MexiData.info
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The Special Committee of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies that is investigating the granting of permits for casinos (sic) in Mexico will subpoena members of the Secretariat of Government’s Gaming and Raffles Consulting Council, who (in the spring of 2005) endorsed the gaming concessions just days before Santiago Creel Miranda left the ministry to compete in the internal process to become the presidential candidate of the National Action Party (PAN).
Committee Chairman Héctor Gutiérrez de la Garza (PRI, Nuevo León) has called a meeting of his committee for January 26, so that the committee members can vote to summons the following officials to appear: Arturo Chávez Chávez, Undersecretary of Government and President of the Gaming and Raffles Consulting Council*; Manuel I. Fierro Evans, head of the Government Unit; Marco Antonio Herrera, chief of the Internal Control Agency; and Alfredo Gómez Barrera, Adjunct Director General of Gaming and Raffles.
Eduardo Barroso Alarcón, Emilio Carrillo Gamboa, and Jorge Luis Ibarra Mendívil will also be called, insofar as they are permanent appointees on the Consulting Council.
Gutiérrez de la Garza said that the reason for the meeting is so the officials and members of the Council can explain the criteria for (having) granted permits to operate casinos, and to jointly analyze the applicable documents that the legislator’s have in their possession.
Furthermore, Gutiérrez de la Garza and Deputy Arturo Nahle García (PRD, Zacatecas) have sent a demand to the Mexican Supreme Court, asking it to expedite the judgment regarding the appeal filed by the Chamber of Deputies against the (Regulation of the) Gaming and Raffles Law, issued by the same Creel.
Nahle said that the legislators will dig deeply in order to determine responsibilities, and if necessary action will be taken against Creel, insofar as the casino issue cost him the presidential candidacy even though he was the chosen successor of President Vicente Fox.
Nahle added that it would be hard for the Special Committee to issue a finding on the irregularities committed by Creel and the Consulting Council while the case is still before the Supreme Court.
During the January 26 meeting, the Special Committee will also discuss the analyses and opinion document questioning the legality of the gaming and raffles permits issued by the Secretariat of Government, a document that has been prepared by the Chamber’s Center of Parliamentary Law and Research.
As well, two reports will be received. One regarding the official letters circulated by the Secretariat of Government asking for information on firms that operate casinos and betting parlors in Mexico; whereas the other refers to the request made of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, asking for foreign ministry assistance in the investigation of criminal records in the United States “of certain people connected with the permits issued” by the Secretariat of Government.
MexiData.info note: Chávez is new to the post, having been named January 9, 2006 to replace Felipe González González. |
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