The government is investigating several former top executives of state-owned oil giant Pemex for allegedly diverting US$156.7 million in company funds, officials said Friday.They said the probe is focusing on Raúl Muñoz Leos, who was Pemex´s president from 2001-2004, as well as erstwhile company general counsel Juan Carlos Soriano and former head of administration Octavio Aguilar Valenzuela.
The Energy Secretariat formally asked Pemex to look into the matter, according to an EL UNIVERSAL report to be published on Saturday.
The scandal also implicates Pemex workers union leader Carlos Romero Deschamps, since he signed off on the fund transfer along with Muñoz Leos.
Deschamps has not been accused of wrongdoing, although dissident union members sent a letter to the Energy Secretariat on Wednesday alleging that the fund transfer was related to the 2004 collective contract talks.
Back then, dissident union members accused Romero Deschamps of accepting unfavorable contract terms, suggesting that the terms of the deal were less than transparent.
The Cabinet-level secretary of public administration, Germán Martínez, told reporters Thursday a Pemex oversight committee will question Muñoz Leos before the end of this month.
Martínez said that if the administrative probe uncovers "elements to presume criminal conduct," his department will transfer the case to the federal Attorney General´s Office (PGR).
SIGNS OF ILLEGALITY
Aguilar, brother of former President Vicente Fox´s official spokesman, was quoted Friday by EL UNIVERSAL newspaper as saying he refused to sign the document authorizing the questionable transfer of funds because he perceived "signs of illegality."
The events date back to July 2004, when Muñoz Leos, Aguilar and Soriano signed an accord with the oil workers union promising to provide that organization with a total of 7.78 billion pesos (US$707 million) to liquidate 15 years´ worth of arrears to Pemex employees.
Authorities subsequently determined that at least US$156.7 million of that sum was diverted from its rightful recipients.
Muñoz Leos left Pemex in October 2004 after incidents that raised questions about his honesty, but he is hardly the first company executive to be accused of corruption.
The biggest scandal at the firm involved then-boss Rogelio Montemayor, who channeled US$160 million of Pemex money into the 2000 election campaign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Romero Deschamps was implicated in the scandal but escaped punishment.
