petroleumworld

World

ISSUES....
Inside, confidential, off the record

Scandal hits

Pemex scandal hits Calderón administration

Mexico's lower House of Deputies voted to open an investigation into accusations that Government Secretary Juan Camilo Mouriño improperly helped his family win contracts from the state oil monopoly Pemex. The accusations stem from contracts Mourino signed between 2000 and 2004 when he acted as the legal representative of his family's company while also working as a lawmaker and then as deputy energy secretary. The move comes as President Felipe Calderon, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, is seeking to further open Pemex to foreign investment.

The left-opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) first called for a probe, but walked out before the vote, saying the parameters of the investigation are too narrow. The PRD-led bloc wants the inquiry to include suspect contracts with the Federal Electricity Commission. PRD leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador called Mouriño a "trafficker in influence." The probe will last two months and look into all contracts awarded by Pemex's refining and gasoline units. (NYT, March 15; Bloomberg, March 13)

Bill Weinberg on Sun, / World War 4 Report / 03/16/2008

Petroleumworld News 03/18/08

ISSUES.... Is an independent journalist effort from Petroleumworld, on Inside, Confidential
and Off The Record Information, its views are not necessarily those of Petroleumworld

Legal information: Copyright/Disclaimer

Copyright© 2008 respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.
We welcome the use of Petroleumworld™ stories by anyone provided it mentions Petroleumworld.com as the source. Other stories you have to get authorization by its authors.

Send this story to a friend

Your feedback is important to us!

We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.

Write to editor@petroleumworld.com

Any question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com

3

Best Viewed with IE 5.01+
Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels

TOP

This site is a public free site and it contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of business, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have chosen to view the included information for research, information, and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/us code/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from Petroleumworld or the copyright owner of the material.