Ex-Chief of Pemex Extradited From U.S.

The former head of Mexico’s state-owned petroleum monopoly, wanted for his alleged role in an embezzlement scandal labeled “Pemexgate,” was extradited from Texas on Thursday to face corruption charges in his homeland. But for the time being, Rogelio Montemayor is avoiding jail.

Despite Montemayor’s two-year flight from justice, his attorneys won a restraining order last month that allows him to remain free until a verdict is reached in his trial. Judge Maria Elena Leguizamo Ferrer caused an uproar when she granted that order, saying the alleged $140-million theft didn’t qualify under Mexican law as a serious offense.

Mexican Atty. Gen. Rafael Macedo de la Concha said at a news conference Thursday that he was trying to bring an additional charge of electoral fraud against Montemayor, which would subject the former executive to immediate imprisonment.

Montemayor, who was once governor of Coahuila state, has denied all charges, saying they are politically motivated. He arrived here on a commercial flight from Houston and was escorted by special federal agents to a government hangar, questioned and then released.

His arrival capped the Mexican government’s long fight to have him extradited from Texas, to which he fled in 2002. At that time, Montemayor was charged with embezzling $140 million from Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, the petroleum monopoly. Prosecutors allege that the funds, disguised as loans and benefits to Pemex workers, were given to the Institutional Revolutionary Party to finance the unsuccessful 2000 campaign of the PRI’s presidential candidate, Francisco Labastida.

U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes granted Mexico’s extradition request July 23. Montemayor surrendered to U.S. authorities several days later and spent more than a month in a Houston jail waiting for his flight back to Mexico.

Fernando Gomez Mont, his attorney, was not available to comment Thursday. A spokesman for Pemex declined to comment.

A longtime high-level functionary for the PRI, Montemayor was named Pemex head in December 1999 by President Ernesto Zedillo as the presidential campaign was gathering momentum. The election victory of Vicente Fox of the National Action Party ended the PRI’s 71-year grip on power.