The former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Emilio Lozoya, was again in a court hearing, this time to face an accusation of tax fraud for 2.6 million pesos that he allegedly had to comply with in 2016 before the tax authority.
Yesterday Lozoya appeared by videoconference from the North Prison of Mexico City in a hearing presided over by Judge Felipe de Jesús Delgadillo Padierna, in which the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) sought to initiate a third criminal proceeding, now for the crime of tax fraud.
During the hearing, the former director of Pemex offered, through his lawyer Alejandro Rojas, to compensate 2 million 695,985 pesos that he allegedly did not declare before the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in 2016 for Income Tax (ISR). However, although he offered to pay the amount, he said that his client is innocent of such a fact.
Given this, the judge in the case ordered the accusation file to be forwarded to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism, where Lozoya’s defense will have to offer the necessary guarantees to cover the allegedly undeclared amount, and thereby possibly prevent the initiation of of a third criminal proceeding against him.
During the hearing, the legal representation of the FGR and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), the latter as a victim, did not object to the judge’s determination.
With the resolution, 30 days will begin to run for the parties to reach an agreement and, where appropriate, notify Judge Padierna, who will then determine whether to call a continuity hearing, or whether the complaint filed by the FGR remains without effect. .
Odebrecht and Agro Nitrogenados
For now, Lozoya will continue to be imprisoned in the North Prison of CDMX, while his defense and the FGR began to draft a possible reparation agreement, in the Agro Nitrogenados and Odebrecht cases, which would eventually free the former official.
On April 12, Judge José Artemio Zúñiga canceled a hearing for Lozoya in the Odebrecht case, because his defense and the FGR formally began the process.
Emilio Lozoya Austin offered through his defense a reparation agreement consisting of 10.2 million dollars (7 million 385,000 dollars for the Odebrecht criminal proceeding and 3 million 400,000 for Agro Nitrogenados), so that the Attorney General’s Office suspends the two criminal proceedings against him for the crimes of money laundering, bribery and criminal association, with which he could leave the North Prison where he has been imprisoned since last November 3.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador considered that before accepting a reparation agreement from Lozoya, an authority must make an appraisal to find out if the damages are covered.
“It’s 10 million dollars, yes. You’re still going to see that, yet. (…) Because the prosecution can, of course, accept the reparation of the damage and we also agree with that, because it means money that goes to the Institute to Return What Was Stolen to the People or money that goes to Pemex,” he said.
The Tojil organization filed an amicus curiae appeal before Judge Artemio Zúñiga, to reject any agreement that violates what is established by law in the Lozoya case.
Emilio Lozoya and former PAN senator Jorge Luis Lavalle Maury are the only prisoners for now due to the Odebrecht corruption scandal. In our country there is no court sentence so far against politicians or businessmen for this case.
The Ministry of Public Function promoted the disqualification for 3 years to Odebrecht and a fine of 543 million 488,615 pesos. However, this sanction is in litigation before the Federal Court of Administrative Justice.
