Former Chihuahua governor César Duarte was arrested Wednesday in Miami, Florida, UNITED States.
The Office of the Republic of Attorney General confirmed the detention and detailed that it is for extradition purposes.
In a statement, the unit noted that Duarte was arrested by elements of the FEDERAL Marshals Service.
“Within the next 72 hours of detention, according to preliminary and still unofficial information, the claimed would be brought before the Federal Court of the Southern District of Florida, where his rights and the crimes for which he is required by the Government of Mexico will be explained to him,” he reads.
Duarte is charged by the Chihuahua’s Superior Audit for diversions quantified by more than 6 billion pesos, while the apprehension orders that are in force against him documented another 200 million pesos.
In addition to being seized properties worth approximately 500 million, with ranches of more than 100 thousand hectares.
The first order of apprehension against the former former deputy finalist was issued by the Chihuahua Prosecutor’s Office in 2017 after detecting a embezzlement of 6 billion pesos and the diversion of another 250 million pesos.
According to the investigations, these resources would have been used to pay for PRI election campaigns in the 2015 elections.
In 2018, the Chihuahua government submitted the investigation folders and arrest warrants against Duarte to speed up the arrest process with the then PGR.
However, the FGR notes that since then the case has remained inactive.
It was until October 2019, when a Judge of Control of the District of Chihuahua issued another arrest warrant against Duarte “for his probable
responsibility for the crimes of Peculado and Asociación Delictuosa.
On 18 December of the same year, the FGR requested the support of the SRE to process the formal extradition request of the former payer to the US Government if he was arrested.
After the arrest became known, the holder of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Santiago Nieto, congratulated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Duarte’s arrest.
I congratulate Chancellor @m_ebrard and the @SRE_mx on César Duarte’s extradition procedure. No one is above the law.
— Santiago Nieto (@SNietoCastillo) July 8, 2020
Meanwhile, PRI President Alejandro Moreno issued a statement suring that his party will not cover up for any priist who is involved in acts of corruption.
Not to mention Duarte, Alejandro Moreno noted that the PRI is on the side of the law and in favor of the fight against corruption, “stop to the point”.
Today’s PRI is no one’s cover, the fight against corruption must be capsed to the top. pic.twitter.com/auredWTiW4
— PRI (@PRI_Nacional) July 8, 2020
On my arrival at the PRI, there were those who thought they would control the finances to cover up the alleged Operation Sapphire. I didn’t give in!
The party will support any request for information from prosecutors and/or electoral authorities.
Today’s PRI will not overlap corruption at any level.
— Alejandro Moreno (@alitomorenoc) July 9, 2020
‘Triumph in the Face of Impunity’: Corral
Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral said on Wednesday’s afternoon that César Duarte’s capture in the United States was a “triumph” of the Chihuahua people in the face of “the most bratable corruption the state has ever experienced.”
“It is a triumph in the face of the impunity that he enjoyed to this day (César Duarte), for the protection afforded to him by the former President of the Republic, Enrique Peña Nieto,” said the Panlist representative.
Corral recounted that today he received the call from Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard, and also from attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, to confirm Duarte’s capture in the state of Florida, United States, where he will now be brought before a Federal Court of that country, which will have to determine the extradition to Mexico of the former governor.
“We hope that, shortly, extradition will be consolidated so that (Duarte) faces all the criminal proceedings he has against him in our country,” Corral said.
César Duarte, javier Corral said today, built during his tenure at the head of Chihuahua a network of corruption and protection, “which he operated by handing over cash to various institutions, local deputies, businessmen, opinion leaders, columnists, and some media.” And he left a debt in the bank of 50 billion pesos.
“In his tenure, the former governor amassed a multimillion-dollar fortune. He acquired farms, ranches, exotic cattle, above his economic possibilities,” Corral said.
After completing his term in 2016, Duarte took refuge in EstadUnited States, a country that you entered on November 28, 2016 through Newark Airport in New Jersey. Since then, Javier Corral said the former governor has remained “jumping in the American Union” in the American Union, taking refuge especially in the states of New Mexico and Texas, where Duarte “owns numerous properties.”
Javier Corral, of panist extraction, today recognized the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the chancellor Marcelo Ebrard, and the attorney general, Alejandro Gertz, for the capture for extradition purposes of César Duarte.
“This detention is a sign that the country can move forward, despite our differences. We must have common fronts, and what a better common front than the fight against corruption,” Corral stressed.
With information from Manu Ureste
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