EspañolA former candidate of Mexico’s largest left-wing party is being investigated for possible money laundering and other crimes related to elections.
Eva Cadena, a former candidate for MORENA to the municipal presidency of Las Choapas in Veracruz, may have accepted bribes while also laundering money, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office announced this week.
Director of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Electoral Crimes, Santiago Nieto Castillo, said Tuesday that the investigation comes in response to three videos of Cadena receiving as much as US $50,000 to promote a law that favored businessmen in the state of Veracruz.
“We are going to incorporate this new video into the information,” Castillo said. “We have discovered a series of actions that could give rise to other crimes that are not under the prosecution’s jurisdiction, such as resources of illicit origin or even related to misuse of the position she had as a legislator, as well as money laundering. In any case, there will be a hearing by competent authorities to begin an investigation into the origin and destination of the funds.”
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Cadena has not made the process any easier, as she reportedly missed her court date to explain the first two videos that came to light a week ago. They both show her receiving funds for Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s political campaign.
“There was a notification process, the citation was delivered at her residence, she had 48 business hours to file her statement in the public prosecutor’s office,” Castillo said. “It is worth noting that despite being a licensed member of congress, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation said that the constitutional law (also known as parliamentary immunity) protects the official, not the person.”
Electoral investigators issued a statement as well:
“She has been summoned as a probable participant in the commission of a criminal conduct, she has the constitutional right to reserve herself from testifying. However, if she fails to appear, the prosecution is scheduled to request a Judge of Control to issue an order to compel her to appear. If she refuses, we will ask Congress for its support and an arrest warrant if necessary.”
In the videos that have put Eva Cadena in the public eye, she is seen receiving US $25,000 for AMLO’s campaign and in a second, accepting $2,500.
Source: El Universal