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By Chris Covert
Ten former and two current government officials with possible involvement with illegal loans made to the state of Coahuila have been summoned to answer questions about their role in the scandal, according to Mexican press accounts.
The Procuradoria General Republica (PGR) or attorney general announced Tuesday that none of the officials being investigated include former governor Humberto Moreira Valdez or Jorge Torres, the interim governor, but they will be subpoenaed to testify in their roles.
Moreira quit his post as governor almost a year ago to take the top spot in the Partido Revolucionaio Institucional (PRI), a post he was forced to relinquish because of the expanding political troubles and investigation surrounding illegal loans made during his administration of Coahuila when he was governor.
The PGR announcement is the first official national investigation into the crimes which led to the tremendous increased debt of Coahuila state. PGR's investigation will likely lead to jail time for some, if not all of the officials named.
The total debt the state has acquired to date had ballooned to MP $36 billion (USD $2,613,600,000), the highest debt load per capita of any state in Mexico, and has forced credit ratings agencies such as Fitch's to lower the state's creditworthiness, and Coahuila state itself to institute severe austerity measures to pay back the money owed.
The officials include
- Juan Ochoa Jesus Galindo, Coahuila's current finance secretary.
- Hector Hernandez Javier Villarreal, former head of Servicio de Administracion Tributaria del Estado de Coahuila (SATEC), or Tax Administration Service. Javier Villareal has been mentioned in Mexican press numerous times for his role in questionable loans, and he was arrested by Coahuila Minsterial police agents in November as he tried to leave the country aboard a private aircraft.
- Sergio Ricardo Fuentes, ex-Administrador General de Politicas Publicas del SATEC, or Administrator General of Public Policy of SATEC.
- Carlos Mauricio Aguill"n, ex Direccion General de Politica Financiera de la Secretar"a de Finanzas, or Director General of Financial Policy of Coahuila finance ministry.
- Victor Manuel Zamora
- Miguel Ramon Rodriguez
- Alfredo Vald"s Menchaca
- Enrique Ledezma, undersecretary of Politicas Financieras del SATEC.
- Juan Manuel Froto, director of the Fondo de Financiamiento para el Estado or Trust Fund for the state.
- Juan Manuel Delgado, a manager who worked for Coahuila.
- Fausto Destenave, director general of the Comision Estatal de Aguas y Saneamiento de Coahuila or Water and Sanitation Commision.
- Jaime Jim"nez, director of Deuda Publica de Entidades y Municipio, or Public Debt of Municipalities and Entites.
Reforma news daily reported that the crimes being investigated include forgery, conspiracy and illegal use of official stamps, none of which are considered serious offenses.
Five claims are being investigated for illegal loans, four of which took place during the administration of Moreira.
Moreira for his part spent weeks after news of the debt broke dodging responsibility for the scandal, at first attempting to turn back those charges by making unrelated countercharges, then by pointing out that officials in Mexico City knew about the loans but received the documents anyway.
However, by December 2nd, Moreira bowing to pressure inside PRI and his political opponents inside and outside PRI, stepped down as leader of PRI, only days after he told a highly respected senator, Manilo Beltrones, basically to shut up.
Moreira was also facing a revolt within PRI for his policies while leader of PRI, including the way to rammed through an alliance between PRI and Partido Verde Ecologistia de Mexican or Greens Party
The final act that sealed his tenure as president of PRI came when he was told he would lose immunity ex-elected officials receive when they end their terms.