Prosecutors drop charges against leaders of Pemex, PRI

by The Associated Press

Prosecutors have dropped money laundering and organized crime charges against current and former officials at the state-run oil monopoly and leaders of the party that ruled Mexico for 71 straight years, the attorney general's office said July 21.

In a statement, the money laundering arm of the attorney general's office said it had concluded "there wasn't sufficient evidence" to continue its cases against 11 people accused of funneling millions of dollars in funds from the labor union of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, to the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Investigators had already determined that 640 million pesos, or $61.3 million, in funds from the Pemex labor union was transferred to the party known as the PRI for use by its presidential candidate Francisco Labastida ahead of the 2000 elections.

Despite evidence the accused officials helped embezzle those funds, they can't be charged with money laundering because "an attempt to hide the origin or destination of that money didn't exist," the statement said.

But the group could still face electoral fraud charges, investigations being handled by officials in another part of the attorney general's office. Prosecutors dropped money laundering and organized crime charges against five ex-Pemex officials, four current and former PRI leaders, and two directors of Pemex's labor union.

Among those cleared is former Pemex director Rogelio Montemayor, who fled to Houston, where he is awaiting an Aug. 18 hearing to determine whether he will be extradited to Mexico to face charges in the scandal.

Also exonerated was Pemex union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps and Carlos Almada, Labastida's friend and close political adviser, who served as his 2000 campaign's elections secretary.

President Vicente Fox, of the conservative National Action Party, beat Labastida at the polls in July 2000, ending the PRI's 71-year hold on the presidency.

In May, the Federal Electoral Institute fined the PRI more than $90 million for allegedly using government funds to illegally finance its 2000 presidential campaign.