Mexico's Reforms Tackle Corruption But Leave Presidential Immunity Intact

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico's Reforms Tackle Corruption But Leave Presidential Immunity Intact

By Brianna Lee @briannaclee [e-mail] on May 28 2015 2:49 PM EDT

Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto enacted long-discussed constitutional reforms this week, instituting a new anti-corruption regime and heralding it as a “genuine paradigm shift.” Corruption remains one of Mexico’s biggest challenges along with its long-standing security problem, and the reforms aim to boost accountability for both public officials and private entities.

But the system also leaves the president’s immunity from prosecution intact, rankling critics, particularly after Peña Nieto and his wife found themselves at the center of corruption allegations late last year.

~ snip ~

Another opposition lawmaker, Manuel Bartlett of the Workers’ Party, said the reforms left the president immune “in the middle of the worst scandals,” referring to corruption allegations that roiled the presidency last fall.

Those accusations revolved around a $7 million mansion, dubbed the “Casa Blanca” (“White House”). Peña Nieto’s wife, Angelica Rivera, was issuing monthly payments on the house. But a months-long investigation by an independent Mexican news outlet, Aristegui Noticias, found that it was owned by an employee of a construction company that won several lucrative government contracts in the past, raising questions about favoritism and the president’s ties to government contractors. The fact that the company was part of a Chinese-led consortium that won a $3.7 billion contract to build a high-speed rail line inflamed public suspicion even more.


More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/mexicos-reforms-tackle-corruption-leave-presidential-immunity-intact-1942431

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[MisterP]

1. "Peña Nieto distinguished himself in childhood for being courteous and tidy and well-groomed.

His mother recalls how she would squeeze lime juice on Peña Nieto's hair to keep his now famous hairstyle in place. ... People who knew him in his early years said that he was a sharp dresser, and told teachers at his school that he planned to be governor of the State of Mexico

what a cipher--perfect for his empty skeleton of a party