Authorities Charge Two High-Level Government Banking Officials with Fraud, Money-Laundering & Extorsion

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In the continuing saga of corruption in Mexico, authorities arrested two high-level government banking officials on charges of fraud, money-laundering, and extorsion. Arrested were Eugenio Gonzalez Sierra, deputy director of the savings protection agency (Instituto de Proteccion al Ahorro Bancario, IPAB), and Leon Alberto Schietekat Ballesteros, research director at the foreign trade bank (Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, BANCOMEXT).

The two officials, detained in early October, will remain in custody for at least 90 days while the government's anti- corruption agency (Unidad Especializada Contra la Delincuencia Organizada, UEDO) investigates the charges.

Sources at the Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) allege that Gonzalez Sierra and other IPAB employees conducted a series of transactions to transfer illicit funds between Mexican and foreign banks. Gonzalez Sierra is said to have laundered more than US$1 million through a European institution.

The UEDO, a …