The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Treasury, Santiago Nieto Castillo, confirmed that the former minister Eduardo Medina Mora’s accounts were blocked, but ruled out that it was as a pressure measure for him to resign.
This, after the journalist Mario Maldonado unveiled, in his column published in The Universal, excerpts from trades signed by federal officials, for the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) to block accounts of the former minister, his brothers José and Juan Pablo Medina Mora Icaza, as well as companies related to his family.
Read more: Design Medina Mora to the Supreme Court; FGR has a complaint against it, says AMLO
According to Maldonado, once the minister’s resignation was accepted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on Saturday, October 5, a second request was issued in which he asked to unlock the requested accounts.
However, Santiago Nieto posted on his official Twitter account that the lockout of Medina Mora’s accounts occurred after his resignation.
“It is important to note that the blocking of the former minister’s bank accounts was carried out AFTER his resignation, so logically it could not be a mechanism for him to resign,” he posted.
and according to the times of the investigations. It is important to note that the blocking of the former minister’s bank accounts was carried out AFTER his resignation, so logically it could not be a mechanism for him to resign.
— Santiago Nieto (@SNietoCastillo) October 10, 2019
He also said the Intelligence Unit often requests the freezing and thawing of accounts in “infinity” of cases.
“By procedure, it is defrosted when there are rights of workers, shareholders or suppliers. We’ve done it on a lot of issues. It’s always done in coordination with the CNBV,” he said.
Read: How will the new minister of the Court be appointed before the resignation of Medina Mora?
Following the resignation of Medina Mora, on October 3, both President López Obrador and Santiago Nieto argued that the minister was facing complaints before the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.
Even Santiago Nieto himself claimed that Medina Mora was protecting members of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto and that he was investigated for alleged money laundering, as he said that some of the rulings he had under his responsibility affected the work of the authorities rancheras.
The unblocking of accounts frozen by the Ministry of Finance, driven by the resolutions of Eduardo Medina Mora since the Supreme Court, allowed some 2 billion pesos “product of human trafficking, drug trafficking and corruption,” he said.
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