MEXICO CITY — The second-place finisher in Mexico’s July 1 presidential election accused the winner on Wednesday of using illicit funds and money laundering to finance his campaign.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a news conference there is evidence that money was shuffled between apparent front companies to buy prepaid debit cards that the leftist candidate charges were used to buy millions of votes for the winner of the race, Enrique Peña Nieto.
“I have evidence to say that funds of illicit origin were used in the Peña Nieto campaign,” Lopez Obrador said.
His representative, Jaime Cardenas, described a chain of funds in which four apparent front companies funneled money into pre-paid debit cards originally contracted under the names of still other companies. He said that the addresses of some of the companies were false and that two of the firms were registered to men who listed their occupations as laborers.
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Asked whether he was suggesting that drug money may have been involved, Cardenas said: “We don’t have any conclusive proof of that. That’s what the authorities have to investigate.”
The company that issued the debit cards, which Lopez Obrador alleges were worth as much as a total of 108 million pesos ($8.2 million), has denied it supported any specific candidate. It did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday on whether front companies may have contracted for such cards.
Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, also had no immediate comment.
On Tuesday, Mexico’s second-highest electoral court announced that it formally received the legal challenges seeking to annul the presidential election.
The challenges filed by Lopez Obrador appear to face an uphill struggle given the 6.6-percentage-point margin of victory for Peña Nieto.
Lopez Obrador claims Peña Nieto’s campaign engaged in overspending and vote buying. The court said he submitted 58 boxes of evidence as part of the challenge.
Peña Nieto said Wednesday that his victory was legitimate and said he felt optimistic despite the protests and legal challenges against his victory.
“I hope that the political parties will assume a democratic attitude of respect for the results of these elections,” Peña Nieto said. “I see a favorable scenario, I feel optimistic about achieving agreements” with other parties.
