PULSE NEWS MEXICO

After four years of on-again-off-again negotiations with the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FDR) for a plea-deal payback of allegedly corruption gains, lawyers for Emilio Lozoya Austin, long-imprisoned former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), announced Saturday, March 11, that they could not reach a reparation agreement with the FGR regarding the Odebrecht case, for which the agency requested that the former official be charged with 46 years in prison.

As a result, the control judge based in the North Prison, Gerardo Alarcón, said that Lozoya will have to face a prosecution court for his alleged crimes of operation with resources of illicit origin and criminal association.

The hearing, which began on Friday, March 10, is due to  resume Monday, March 13. Meanwhile, Lozoya Austin’s defense team announced that it will file an appeal on his behalf.

Miguel Ontiveros, Lozoya Austin’s lawyer, said that the Mexican government had set an exorbitant amount of 200 million pesos that his client would have to pay as part of the reparation agreement, which he said was rejected by Lozoya Austin.

Lozoya is being accused of allegedly having received bribes of up to $10.5 million from the Brazilian company Odebrecht, while he was in charge of Pemex.