A case being heard in a Mexican border state court exposed Mexico’s Tax Office (SAT) and ruling party for allegedly funneling millions in state funds into political campaigns. The movement of funds allegedly occurred during the 2016 election.
The revelations made during the hearing against one of the top operators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Chihuahua revealed that for the 2016 gubernatorial campaigns, top officials with the PRI and government officials worked together to move more than $250 million pesos ($14 million USD) into the gubernatorial campaigns in Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Durango, Puebla, and Sinaloa, Mexico’s Revista Proceso reported.
The information came through testimony in the case against Alejandro Gutierrez Gutierrez, a top operator within the PRI. Gutierrez is being singled out as having helped orchestrate the funneling of state funds into the political campaigns of the states where the party was having a tough time getting votes. Through a series of grants given to shell companies, the operators were able to move millions of pesos into the contested campaigns.
According to Proceso, one of the witnesses testified that Mexican Congressman Manlio Fabio Beltrones (a former PRI leader) was one of the main architects behind the operation. Witnesses also claimed that Mexico’s Tax Office helped ensure the transactions ran without a problem.
The revelations come at a time when the PRI has been on a losing streak where the party lost many of the governorships that were contested in 2016. The party is expected to have a tough road ahead of the 2018 presidential elections. Current Mexican President and PRI member Enrique Peña Nieto has been exposed by journalistic investigations as having had sums of money from the Juarez cartel moved into his 2012 presidential bid. The scandal became known as Monexgate, Breitbart Texas reported.
In addition to having the multiple scandals surrounding the president, as Breitbart Texas has reported, the PRI has had several former governors who have been linked to Mexican drug cartels. Two former governors from the state of Tamaulipas are currently fighting their extradition to Texas where they face money laundering charges in federal court. Former Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez is currently at a jail in the state he once ran fighting his extradition. Former Tamaulipas Governor Tomas Yarrington is currently in an Italian prison fighting his extradition to Texas where he is not only wanted on money laundering charges but also is facing drug trafficking conspiracy charges.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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