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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 18 april 2017

Mexican ex-governor evaded justice with help of accomplices

SONIA PEREZ D. vember or earlier, and trav- Duarte was governor of
MARIA VERZA eled between the city of Veracruz from 2010 until
Associated Press Antigua and other prov- he left office Oct. 12, 2016,
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — inces where he had prop- two months before the
A fugitive former Mexican erties. scheduled end of his term,
governor accused of pilfer- “During the investigation, saying he was doing so in
ing millions of dollars from it came to light that vari- order to face the allega-
state coffers was aided by ous private airlines offering tions against him. But he
a network of accomplices services to the region were promptly disappeared and
who helped him evade jus- charged with transporting had been sought by Mexi-
tice in Guatemala, where (Duarte) to different points can authorities ever since.
he was eventually cap- in Guatemala,” said Gar- Mexico says it has found
tured after six-month man- cia Harfuch. millions of dollars purport-
hunt, officials said. Garcia Harfuch did not edly linked to Duarte, fro-
Authorities were tipped provide the names of the zen more than 100 bank
off to the presence of ex- Mexico’s former Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte, left, is es- network of people who accounts and seized prop-
Veracruz state Gov. Javier corted by an agent of the local Interpol office inside a police helped Duarte from Mex- erty and businesses tied
Duarte in Guatemala by car as they arrive at Guatemala City, early Sunday, April 16, ico City. But authorities in to the former governor. A
the Nov. 10, 2016 deten- 2017. Duarte, who is accused of running a ring that allegedly Mexico vowed to recover reward of 15 million pesos
tion of a person carrying pilfered from state coffers, has been detained in Guatemala af- the money Duarte alleged- ($730,000) had been of-
ter six months as a fugitive and a high-profile symbol of govern-
two passports with photo- ment corruption. ly stole and bring to justice fered for his capture.
graphs of Duarte and his (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) his accomplices. Duarte has also been criti-
wife — but with different Political analyst Alejandro cized for rampant violence
names — at the airport in and stripped its schools and “I have no comment, Hope said it is difficult to in the state during his ad-
the Mexican border city of hospitals of their resources. thank you,” Duarte said to judge whether Duarte’s ministration, as drug car-
Tapachula. Prosecutors have directed a question from The Asso- capture — the second in a tels warred for territory and
Investigators “identified Mexico’s Foreign Relations ciated Press as he entered week of a high-profile, fugi- thousands of people were
many homes, telephone Department to request Du- the prison. tive former PRI governor — killed or disappeared.
numbers and vehicles arte’s extradition. In the past, Duarte has de- will boost PRI President En- The dead include at least
related to people who He was captured Saturday nied the allegations against rique Pena Nieto’s image in 16 journalists slain in Vera-
helped Javier Duarte from at a hotel in Panajachel, a him, saying he had not sto- fighting corruption. cruz during his six years in
Mexico City in the logistics picturesque town on Lake len a single peso of state “In the best case it will give office.
of his stay and movement Atitlan in Guatemala’s money or diverted govern- him a small boost in the His detention comes a
in Guatemala,” Omar highlands, with the coop- ment funds overseas. short term but it also draws week after Tomas Yar-
Garcia Harfuch, head of eration of that country’s “I don’t have foreign ac- attention to the corrup- rington, the ex-governor
the Criminal Investigation police and Interpol office. counts,” he said last year. “I tion of the governors,” said of Mexico’s Tamaulipas
Agency in Mexico’s Attor- He was taken under heavy don’t have properties any- Hope. state, was arrested in Italy,
ney General’s Office, told guard to a military prison where.” And Duarte “knows a lot of also on allegations of or-
a press conference in Gua- in Guatemala’s capital on Authorities think he entered things about a lot of peo- ganized crime and money
temala City. Sunday. Guatemala by land in No- ple.” laundering.q
The 43-year-old former In-
stitutional Revolutionary Brazil’s Odebrecht financed campaigns in Peru, El Salvador
Party governor had come
to symbolize official cor- SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil- company contributed $3 unveiled billions of dollars Funes, who was president
ruption to many in Mexico, ian construction giant Ode- million to Humala, who was in kickbacks and bribes of that Central American
where he is wanted for brecht helped finance the elected in 2011.The Ode- paid to politicians by Bra- country from 2009 to 2014.
money laundering and campaign of Peru’s former brecht construction com- zilian companies. A former Also this week, another for-
organized crime. He is ac- President Ollanta Humala, pany is at the center the Odebrecht executive also mer Odebrecht executive
cused of running a cor- company’s former CEO biggest corruption probe testified this week that the told prosecutors that be-
ruption ring that allegedly has said. In testimony this in Brazil’s history. The inves- company donated $1.5 tween 2006 and 2014 the
pilfered millions of dollars week to prosecutors, Mar- tigation, known as Opera- million to the campaign company paid $3.4 billion
from Veracruz’s coffers, celo Odebrecht said the tion Car Wash, has already of El Salvador’s Mauricio in bribes.q