To do that, the prosecution has to show that:
- The crimes for which they are being accused are of such seriousness that Anaya may have the intention of leaving the country or sneaking out.
- That Anaya has the economic resources or the contact networks that can provide him with escape.
But in the end, the judge is not obliged to grant the arrest warrant, but will determine his decision by evaluating the evidence presented by the federal Public Ministry to make it upon request.
“Both the possible arrest warrant and the precautionary measure have a lot to do with the type of crime for which Anaya can be charged,” adds Gerardo Loyo.
What are the chances that Anaya will be arrested?
The chances that Ricardo Anaya will be arrested and linked to the process are complicated, first of all because the FGR’s accusation is based on a testimony that, in the opinion of the experts, is falling apart: that of Emilio Lozoya Austin, former director of Pemex .
“We are discovering, as the investigation in the Lozoya case progresses, that the accusations made not only against Anaya, but also against other political actors are being distorted,” says Professor Loyo.
In this sense, he mentions that it is now known that the video in which the suitcases of money apparently arrive to be distributed among advisers to the Chambers of Deputies and Senators are not the resources of Odebrecht, which declared that one of its officials bribed the Mexican government, then from Enrique Peña Nieto, through Lozoya. The former director of Pemex has sought benefits from opportunity criteria, pointing out Anaya and other former PAN legislators as recipients of that money.
According to the prosecution’s accusation, in 2013 Ricardo Anaya would have received 6 million 800,000 pesos that Emilio Lozoya sent him with his bodyguard, Norberto Gallardo, to vote in favor of the energy reform.
In addition, López Bello points out, Anaya alleges that the dates of the events for which they seek to charge him do not coincide with the facts that the Prosecutor’s Office used to imprison former senator Jorge Luis Lavalle, also for the case of bribes based on the statements of Lozoya.
For this reason, one of the scenarios may be that the judge uses other means of coercion to make him appear, which may be a double fine or, if he considers that the evidence is sufficient, he may grant the FGR in a private hearing the order of apprehension.
In turn, the legal defense of Anaya Cortés could be preparing a request for protection against the arrest warrant.
