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Villareal wins amparo stay on Coahuila state arrest warrant
 For a map, click here By Chris Covert Disgraced former Coahuila state government official Hector Javier Villareal Hernandez has won a stay Tuesday from a re-arrest bench warrant issued by a Coahuila state judge, according to Mexican news accounts. Villareal originally posted MP $10 million (USD $781,898.00) of a MP $20 million (USD $1,563,796.00) bond, and was required to check in with the court from time to time, but has left Mexico and was last seen in Texas. Some reports also place Villareal in Cuba. Villareal was detained February 1st along with his wife Maria Botella, two unidentified children and an unidentified adult in Smith County, Texas, where he was charged with money laundering following a traffic stop. USD $67,000 in cash was found in the car. Villareal spent 5 days in jail before being released on USD $20,000 bond. Villareal faces charges in Coahuila state of using falsified official documents to trick private bank officials into loaning Coahuila state government amounts of up to MP $1 billion. Seven other officials have also been charged in the matter, five of whom are at large, and two -- Jaime Rene Jimenez Flores and Jorge Lopez Alarcon -- are imprisoned at the Reclusorio Norte del Distrito Federal prison in Distrito Federal for investigation and trial. Those seven are part of a larger group of 12 who were called to Mexico City last December to be available to officials for the Procuradoria General Republic (PGR), or attorney general's office. To read a general Ranturg report on the Coahuila debt scandal, click here and here. The legal fate of the other five is unknown. Amparo lawsuits are procedural appeals meant to challenge a prosecutor, but are almost always used to slow down a criminal proceeding. The amparo suit in Coahuila involves a minor charge, while federal charges concern a 2005 federal credit reporting law which provides for stiff penalties for falsifying loan documents. Violations of the federal law are considered felonies, and is a reason why Villareal and other five other officials are on the run. Posted by: badanov 2012-02-17 |
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