Court will define if Pemex and the UIF were victims of bribes received by Lozoya

Cesar Arellano and Gustavo Castillo

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday March 17, 2023, p. 9

The first criminal amparo district court in Mexico City will decide whether Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) should be considered as victims or affected by the bribes received by Emilio Lozoya Austin, former director of Pemex, and with it if both institutions have the necessary legal personality to receive the 200 million pesos that the former official proposes to pay as reparation for the damages for the crimes that are imputed to him in the cases of the Odebrecht and Agronitrogenados firms.

Miguel Ontiveros Alonso, lawyer for the former head of Petróleos Mexicanos, filed the amparo on November 13 before the third district court for amparo in criminal matters, the same day that federal judge Gerardo Genaro Alarcón decided to open the oral trial against Emilio Lozoya, for whom the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) requested a penalty of 46 years in prison for money laundering, bribery and criminal association.

However, Judge Augusto Octavio Mejía Ojeda referred the case to his counterpart in the first district court for amparo, who for his part stated that he was already aware of another related matter. In the next few days he will decide if he admits the appeal for processing and analyzes the merits of the matter, since Lozoya Austin’s defense did not request any provisional suspension.

In view of the amparo lawsuit, promoted by the person who claims to be the plaintiff’s private defender against acts of the district judge specialized in the Adversarial Criminal System, it is observed that the present trial is related to the diverse case of the first amparo district court in criminal matters … it is estimated that the knowledge corresponds to the head of the first district court of amparo in criminal matters… previous record book, send the original to the aforementioned court… Notifyindicates the agreement.

Last Monday, during the intermediate stage of the process, the control judge accepted the 28 exculpatory evidence offered by the lawyers of the former Pemex executive.

The representatives of the federal Public Ministry informed that they will appeal the judicial decision accepting the proposals, while the defense indicated that day that it promoted an amparo to question the legal personality of Pemex and the UIF as recipients of the 200 million pesos that Lozoya Austin proposes to pay as compensation for the crimes with which he is charged.

This succession of resources delays the start of the oral trial stage, waiting for a court to resolve the appeals and a court to manifest itself on the amparo, both definitively.

Sister requests new protection against arrest warrant

Separately, Gilda Susana Lozoya Austin, sister of Emilio Lozoya, promoted a new amparo trial against the arrest warrant issued on July 4, 2019, since she is accused of her alleged responsibility in operations with resources of illegal origin, related to the case of the company Agronitrogenados.

The appeal was also filed before the third district court of amparo in criminal matters, who referred the present lawsuit to the first district court of amparo in criminal matters, since it finds it related to another lawsuit that Gilda Susana processed for the same acts claimed.

According to the investigations of the Prosecutor’s Office, from June to November 2012 more than 3 million dollars were transferred from the company Altos Hornos de México to an account of which Gilda Susana is a beneficiary, money that was allegedly used to purchase a residence in the Lomas de Bezares neighborhood.