Mexican-Argentine businessman Carlos Agustín Ahumada Kurtz. Photo: Alchetron

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

A judge in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has agreed to extradite businessman Carlos Agustín Ahumada Kurtz, who has an outstanding arrest warrant for alleged crimes of fraud, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced Wednesday, Dec. 22.

Ahumada Kurtz, a duel Mexican-Argentine citizen, has been in the crosshairs of the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged acts of extortion of former Social Development Secretary Rosario Robles, who has been sitting in prison in Mexico awaiting trial for nearly three years for the so-called Master Fraud.

Last year, Mexico filed for Ahumada Kurtz extradition, but Argentina initially refused to repatriate him to Mexican authorities.

Ahumada Kurtz first came to prominence for his role in the 2004 Video Scandals, in which he had filmed himself giving money to several politicians, including then-Mexico City Mayor and now-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s secretary, René Bejarano, in illicit backdoor deals.

These bribes were purportedly used to fund election campaigns, while Ahumada Kurtz received public works contracts for his construction company in return.

Bejarano’s involvement in the alleged bribe, alongside that of other members of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), discredited López Obrador, who was the PRD’s nominee for the 2006 presidential election.

The scandal also led, in part, to the loss of López Obrador’s constitutional immunity in 2005, and contributed to his electoral defeat.

After being implicated in the bribery scheme, Ahumada Kurtz fled to Havana, but was arrested and sent back to Mexico, where he remained incarcerated until 2007.

On release, he went to Argentina.

The FGR did not say when Ahumada Kurtz would be returned to Mexico.