By Stefanie Eschenbacher
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Two Texas businessmen were indicted for allegedly bribing officials at Mexico’s state energy company Pemex with $150,000 and luxury items to secure contracts, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday.
Between 2019 and 2021, Ramon Rovirosa and Mario Avila, both Mexican citizens and U.S. lawful permanent residents, conspired to pay bribes to officials at Pemex and its exploration and production arm, known as PEP, according to an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of Texas.
Rovirosa is also alleged to have ties to Mexican cartel members, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Rovirosa, 46, was arraigned while Avila, 61, remains at large.
Reuters was unable to immediately contact the lawyers for Rovirosa and Avila. Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Together with co-conspirators, Rovirosa and Avila allegedly paid bribes in the form of cash and luxury goods, including from Louis Vuitton and Hublot, to at least three Pemex and PEP officials.
In exchange, those Pemex officials are accused of helping companies associated with Rovirosa obtain contracts worth at least $2.5 million, the statement said.
Mexico and its ailing state company Pemex have for decades been awash with corruption, with several former senior officials facing charges, including former Chief Executive Officer Emilio Lozoya.
Lozoya, in turn, has accused ex-presidents Felipe Calderon and Carlos Salinas of corruption, along with former President Enrique Pena Nieto, his ex-finance minister, Luis Videgaray, and more than a dozen others.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was Mexican president during the time covered in the indictment, had vowed to root out the corruption that had plagued the country and its most important company for decades.
Even so, Mexico’s corruption ranking slipped.
Rovirosa and Avila are each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and three substantive violations of it.
The act makes it illegal for citizens, U.S. companies, or foreign persons and businesses in the United States to pay foreign officials to win business.
(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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