Security & Strategic Review - November 2017 (ISSN 1741-4202)

Emilio Lozoya, the former head of state oil company Pemex and a onetime close confidant of President Enrique Peña Nieto, is one of the biggest names to face accusations of corruption in Mexico. In August Brazilian newspaper O Globo said he had accepted US$10m in bribes from civil engineering company Odebrecht, in exchange for a contract to build a refinery; it is claimed the money was in part used to fund Peña Nieto’s election campaign. Yet some quick moves from Lozoya’s lawyers suggest he will avoid arrest for some time yet.