Mexico's No. 2 Official Targeted in Graft Probe
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Friday, March 14, 2008
MEXICO CITY, March 13 -- The lower house of Mexico's Congress launched a corruption investigation Thursday targeting the interior minister, a move that politically weakens the nation's second most powerful official and imperils a major energy initiative.
A commission approved by the Chamber of Deputies will pore over allegations that Juan Camilo Mouri¿o, who has been interior minister for less than two months, helped his wealthy father secure government oil contracts.
The allegations date to 1997 and involve government contracts approved while Mouri¿o was a congressman and worked in the energy department. They are particularly sensitive because Mouri¿o is trying to persuade the Congress to approve controversial changes that would allow Mexico's huge, government-run oil company to enter into development partnerships with foreign oil firms.
The battle over Mouri¿o's case illustrates the fundamental fissure in Mexican politics, pitting President Felipe Calder¿n's National Action Party, or PAN, against the Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, which is pushing for the interior minister's resignation.
Leaders of the PRD, which narrowly lost the presidency in 2006, oppose the proposed oil plans and have accused Calder¿n of trying to privatize a company that many Mexicans consider a part of their national heritage. Calder¿n has said he will not privatize the company, Petr¿leos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
Mouri¿o, 36, has proclaimed his innocence. This week, he turned over documents related to his case to Mexico's attorney general, a gesture perceived here as an attempt to demonstrate confidence that he will be absolved. His supporters in Congress hope the commission will eventually restore the political spark of a rising star who is widely considered a leading contender for the presidency in 2012.
"The formation of this commission is going to prevent the PRD's attempts to discredit the interior minister and the PRD's scandalous media campaign," Rogelio Carbajal, a PAN congressman, said in an interview Thursday. "There has been no illicit conduct by the interior minister."
