Mexican President Peña Nieto in fresh conflict-of-interest scandal

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has denied any wrongdoing after becoming engulfed in another scandal involving luxury properties, government contractors and accusations of conflict of interest.

An investigation by the Wall Street Journal revealed on Tuesday that Peña Nieto purchased a house at an exclusive country club in Ixtapan de la Sal in his native Mexico state just weeks after becoming governor of the state in 2005.

Peña Nieto bought the property from Roberto San Roman, a businessman whose construction company went on to win over $100 million in state government contracts from 2005 to 2011. The same firm, Constructora Urbanizadora Ixtapan (CUISA), which had never before carried out federal projects, has also won at least 11 federal contracts since Peña Nieto became president in late 2012.

Peña Nieto’s office released a statement on Wednesday affirming that the house was purchased legally at full market value of $372,000 and publicly disclosed among his assets. However, the identity of the seller of the property had not been known until now, the Wall Street Journal reported.

CUISA has denied that the sale of the property resulted in it gaining favored status under the Peña Nieto administration. The company said it won the contracts by offering the most competitive bids and emphasized that it has launched another 48 unsuccessful bids for federal contracts since Peña Nieto became president.

Peña Nieto’s office stated that he is not involved in the awarding of public contracts, but this is not the first time that he or those close to him have made use of luxury homes provided by favored contractors…

Click here to read this article in full at Latin Correspondent.