Posted on 07/01/2002 1:44:27 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Rogelio Montemayor, the former director of the Mexican state oil company, surrendered to authorities in Houston today to face extradition back home on charges stemming from a campaign funding scandal.
In an interview before appearing in court, Montemayor said he would rather surrender to U.S. authorities because the process in Mexico has become too politically tainted. The allegations that $166 million went from oil company Pemex to the campaign of presidential candidate Francisco Labastida in 2000 -- dubbed "Pemexgate" -- have emerged as a major scandal in Mexico.
"I resolve to prove my innocence," Montemayor said in the interview, explaining that he needed time to prepare his case. He accused prosecutors and politicians in Mexico of forming a "lynch mob" more interested in attacking opponents than seeking justice.
Montemayor, 57, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, and was appointed to run the government oil monopoly when the PRI held the Mexican presidency in 1999. Recently, allegations emerged about a scheme in which money was allegedly funneled from Pemex to the Pemex union and then to Labastida's campaign. Some of the money allegedly went through a Houston bank.
Montemayor was charged in May with embezzlement in Mexico stemming from his alleged role in the scandal. He says he was in the United States at the time the charges were filed and has chosen to remain here.
A brief filed on Montemayor's behalf in federal court here notes that in order to extradite him, the Mexican government must show that it has probable cause, and it must also convince the U.S. court that the charges are not political.
Montemayor entered the federal courthouse about 11 a.m., hoping a judge would release him on bail pending his extradition hearing. Results of the hearing were not available, or is reaction from the Mexican government.
Pemex has long been a chief source of funds for the government, which was controlled by the PRI for 71 years. The union was among the pillars of the PRI system that was shaken by the election of Fox. Montemayor was once a rising star in the PRI, with close ties to former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He was a congressman, a senator and then governor of Coahuila state.
Also sought were Juan Jose Domene, former Pemex finance director; Carlos Juaristi, former administration director for Pemex; and Julio Pindter, former deputy director of labor relations for Pemex.***
Go Fox Go
Rogelio Montemayor, the former Mexican state oil director caught at the center of a major political scandal back home, tried to surrender to U.S. authorities in Houston Monday after spending months as a fugitive. But federal officials at all levels -- the FBI, the Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas -- said they were unaware of any arrest warrant against him.
A State Department official confirmed Tuesday that Washington had received an arrest warrant from Mexico on May 21. But no one could explain why the order was never passed down to law enforcement officials in Texas, who would have had responsibility to search for the man known to frequent the state.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher referred questions to the Department of Justice, which has responsibility to notify law enforcement of fugitives. Justice Department spokeswoman Jill Stillman would not say why the order to arrest Montemayor never reached officials in Texas.
"All I can say is that we're reviewing it," she said.
Washington's failure to act on Mexico's request to arrest Montemayor was particularly surprising because officials from south of the border had publicly asked for help on the high-profile case. In early June, Mexican President Vicente Fox told a group of U.S. journalists he had evidence some of the five fugitives from the scandal known as Pemexgate were in the United States, and he pleaded with Washington to help find them. Fox did not specifically name Montemayor, though Montemayor is the key figure in the alleged scandal.
"If it's such an important case that President Fox is making statements, then someone clearly dropped the ball" in the extradition process, said Bruce Zagaris, a Washington lawyer who is a leading expert in international criminal law. Zagaris said it would be "very unusual" for Washington to sit on such a high-profile arrest warrant for six weeks.
U.S. politicians often complain that Mexico does too little to extradite fugitives who cross the Rio Grande to evade justice. But the Montemayor case shows that the Mexicans also have reason to complain about the way the Americans handle extraditions going the other way, Zagaris said.
"The Mexicans have all kinds of legitimate beefs with the extradition process here," he said. He pointed to the case of Mario Ruiz Massieu, a former top official in Mexico accused of profiting from drug money. Mexican officials fought unsuccessfully to extradite him back home.
Ruiz Massieu committed suicide in 1999, a week before he was scheduled to go on trial for drug charges in Houston.
Montemayor is accused of embezzling money when he was head of the state oil company, Petroleos de Mexico, or Pemex. The government funds allegedly went to fund a political candidate. [PRI]
The confusion over the warrant for Montemayor's arrest led to an unusual court hearing in Houston Tuesday. Attorneys for Montemayor appeared at the federal courthouse for the second day in a row, and once again they were unable to have their client arrested. Montemayor wants to surrender to U.S. authorities in order to contest his extradition. His attorneys said he believes he would have a better chance in U.S. courts, where the process is less political than in Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas said she was unaware of an arrest warrant, which meant there was no reason to hold a hearing on bail, as Montemayor had requested.
"This was a new one on me," Atlas said.
A federal prosecutor and Montemayor's attorneys agreed to postpone the hearing until July 17 to clarify the issue.
"You would have thought people were out seeking Mr. Montemayor, but that was not the case," Mike DeGeurin, one of Montemayor's attorneys, said after the hearing.
Montemayor, who made his home in the northern Mexican city of Saltillo, told Atlas that he had an apartment in Houston. He promised to stay in Houston along with his wife, Lucrecia Solano Martino, until the proceedings are completed.
Many wealthy Mexicans from Saltillo and the nearby city of Monterrey are known to visit Houston on a regular basis, and some own second homes here. Direct daily commuter flights of less than two hours connect both Saltillo and Monterrey with Houston. [End]
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