Mexico Lawmakers to Probe Alleged $49-Million Fraud by Ex-Pemex Chief
The Chamber of Deputies is investigating charges by the oil workers union that the governor of Mexico state embezzled $49 million from the government petroleum monopoly Pemex while he ran it.
Seven deputies from the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, made the accusation against Gov. Mario Ramon Beteta Thursday.
PRI deputy Adolfo Barrientos, head of a local union, accused Beteta of defrauding Pemex of $49 million through a 1985 deal for two Yugoslav-built tankers.
The chamber--one of the houses in the Mexican congress--named a 22-member commission to investigate.
Beteta, an economist and former treasury secretary, left Pemex after five years when he took office as governor of the state of Mexico in January.
He was named head of Pemex by then-President Miguel de la Madrid in a “moral renewal” campaign against corruption. He replaced Jorge Diaz Serrano, who was convicted for embezzling $58.7 million from Pemex in a 1980 deal.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
