EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Chihuahua state police officers late Wednesday tried to arrest former Gov. Javier Corral Jurado on alleged public corruption charges while he dined at a Mexico City restaurant.
Mexico City authorities said they prevented the arrest because the Chihuahua officers lacked the appropriate paperwork to conduct an arrest outside their jurisdiction.
“On August 14 – violating the human rights of a person and acting against statutes – Chihuahua anti-corruption agency officers tried to illegally carry out a judicial action,” Mexico City Attorney General Ulises Lara said on social media Thursday morning.
Lara said he personally went to the restaurant (which Mexican news media identified as Gingin Kitchen Bar) after receiving a telephone call from Corral saying armed individuals claiming to be police officers wanted to abduct him.
Lara said he “corroborated that the necessary procedures” had not been followed. Further, the Chihuahua agents had an internal memo ordering the arrest but not an actual arrest warrant vetted by a local Mexico City judge, or a cooperation writ signed by his office, he said.
“Mr. Javier Corral willingly decided to accompany me to clarify his legal situation. He was able to leave because this Office does not have any judicial document ordering his arrest,” Lara said.
Some of the corruption charges date back to 2022 and involve Corral allegedly purchasing land to expand his home in Juarez. An opposition member of the Mexican congress and Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar filed criminal complaints alleging Corral made false statements and tried to avoid paying additional taxes.
Chihuahua Deputy Attorney General for Corruption Issues Abelardo Valenzuela on Thursday also accused Corral of misusing 98.6 million pesos ($5.4 million) in 2019 and 2020 during a public-debt restructuring transaction through a middle-man. That translates to illegal enrichment charges, he said.
“We are analyzing how to proceed given the surprising and unbelievable actions of the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office,” Valenzuela said in a news conference in Chihuahua City. “For us, since (Wednesday), the former governor is a fugitive from justice.”
Valenzuela characterized the actions of the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office as “obstruction of justice.” His five officers were unable to touch Corral after more than 100 Mexico City officers arrived at the restaurant, he said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday dismissed the episode as political infighting.
“What we were informed of this morning is that, without communicating with Mexico City authorities, state officers from Chihuahua tried to arrest Corral. This has to do with political differences dating back some time,” the president said during his morning news conference broadcast on YouTube.
Corral, who served as governor of Chihuahua from 2016 to 2022, prosecuted his predecessor Cesar Duarte of the PRI party on charges he embezzled more than $100 million in public money he allegedly used to buy land and for his ranching enterprises. Corral’s prosecutors also alleged Perez Cuellar of the MORENA party received money from Duarte, as did then-gubernatorial candidate Maru Campos of the PAN party.
Campos succeeded Corral after the 2022 elections and no criminal charges were filed against her or Perez Cuellar. Corral switched allegiance from PAN to the president’s party last year.
“The current governor (Campos), who allied herself to former governor Duarte – even though they’re from different parties – is part of the political promiscuity of recent years, of how they started to ally, the PRI and PAN,” Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.
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