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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2007 
Former Mexican President's Wealth Probed
 Reuters
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| | Vicente Fox's election was hailed as the start of Mexico's transition to a true democracy and many hoped it would mark the end of widespread corruption under the all-controlling Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI. |
Mexico City - Mexico's lower house of Congress said on Monday it would open a probe into the finances of former president Vicente Fox after a magazine spread on his swanky country home sparked questions about his new wealth.
A congressional commission will investigate where Fox got the money to transform his modest ranch into a luxury property adorned with a lake and swimming pool, as shown in the glossy magazine Quien earlier this month.
Fox, a conservative whose term ended in December 2006, worked as a Coca-Cola Co executive before being elected president in 2000, ending 71 years of one-party rule.
Fox's election was hailed as the start of Mexico's transition to a true democracy and many hoped it would mark the end of widespread corruption under the all-controlling Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI.
While Fox has never been linked to financial scandals, his second wife, Martha Sahagun, has been accused of siphoning off money from a social fund she headed as first lady and channeling government contracts to her sons.
Sahagun, also chastised in the Mexican media for her love of expensive designer clothes, denies any wrongdoing and the accusations were never proven in court.
The photos of Fox's San Cristobal ranch in the central state of Guanajuato showed a beautifully furnished mansion, a stylish swimming pool, a lake and immaculately kept grounds with deer and peacocks.
Photos of the same ranch taken in 1999 show a smaller, more austere house with simple furniture and no swimming pool.
Fox has denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that the "Centro Fox" think tank he is building near his Guanajuato estate is financed with private donations. |
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