Mexico’s Ex-Attorney General Gets Named In Corruption Case

Mexico’s anti-money-laundering agency said Tuesday that it has found evidence of corruption on the part of former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam, who has been jailed since August.

He has been jailed on charges that he committed abuses during the probe into the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, reported the Associated Press.

As for corruption, Karam didn’t declare about $1.36 million in income, Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit said. His relatives had an interest in a company that might have benefited from government contracts during his days as an official from 2012 to 2015, said the unit, according to The Washington Post.

Karam, who has denied allegations that he created a false version of the students’ disappearance to cover up for others who were involved in it, was not available to respond to the new accusations.

The unit shared that it had sent the evidence of corruption to prosecutors for possible charges of tax evasion and influence trafficking. It said that a probe showed that Karam’s children, son-in-law and nephew were involved in a private company. It got contracts from the government’s Communications and Transport Department. The son of the head of that department served as Karam’s secretary when he was serving as the attorney general, said the unit. It raised the possibility of an exchange of favors.

The 74-year-old ex-official oversaw Mexico’s original investigation into the disappearances of 43 students from a radical teachers college. He now faces trial on charges of forced disappearance, not reporting torture and official misconduct in connection with the case. He said that there might have been “errors” in the investigation. But noted that in the eight years since the incident, no one has been able to prove another version of what happened to the students in the Guerrero state's city of Iguala.

In 2014, he announced that the students had been kidnapped by local police. They were turned over to a drug gang and killed. Their bodies were burned at a garbage dump and the remains were dumped in a river. That version was discounted by independent investigations and the current Attorney General’s Office. They said that different levels of authorities were involved. They included security forces. They said that evidence and crime scenes were altered.

A judge ruled in August that Karam would go on trial on charges of forced disappearance, not reporting torture and official misconduct, reported NPR. In August, in connection with the case, arrest warrants were issued for 20 army soldiers and officers, 5 local officials, 14 gang members, 33 local cops and 11 state police officers.