Ex-Governor Francisco Cabeza de Vaca’s Legal Defense Accuses Former FIU Head Santiago Nieto of Favoritism and Fabrication

The legal defense of the ex-governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Cabeza de Vacaaccused the former head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Santiago Nieto, of having requested favors from US authorities to block the ex-governor’s accounts.

They also affirmed that Nieto is guilty of illicit enrichment, as well as having fabricated crimes such as “political persecution against the ex-president” as a favor to the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

However, they assured that Nieto would have deceived AMLO, as well as the Attorney General of the Republic, Alexander Gertz Manner, to fabricate crimes.

Cabeza de Vaca’s lawyer, Javier Coello Zuarth, specified that there are six investigation folders against Santiago Nieto presented by various people between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 for allegedly requesting “favors” from USA, in order to carry out “political persecutions”.

Given this, he announced that they hope that at the end of this year they will take Santiago Nieto before a control judge.

According to legal defenders, Nieto would have used an alleged collaboration letter with the US to block bank accounts and file complaints and reports, as well as “sowing the perception in public opinion that the United States government was investigating” Cabeza de Vaca.

These alleged collaboration letters were not related to ongoing investigations and were even manipulated by FIU officials to circumvent the requirements of the law to block bank accounts, the legal defenders accused.

For his part, the lawyer Roberto Gil Zuarth He explained that complaints have been filed for the economic and financial behavior of Mr. Santiago Nieto. Among them, there is one on patrimonial disparities of more than 20 million pesos, as well as shell companies, which pay Nieto fees and expenses, the lawyer pointed out.

To this would be added other properties and transfers that he allegedly received during his time at the FIU.

“From the FIU, cases were built, targets were selected, information was disclosed and complaints were filed,” he said during the press conference.

The lawyers accused Nieto of having committed illicit enrichment, operations with resources of illicit origin and against the administration of justice.

Added to this are accusations against UIF officials of altering and manipulating information in collusion with leaders and candidates of Morena, in order to influence the electoral process in Tamaulipas, they said. In addition, he is accused of conspiring to cause the dismissal of Cabeza de Vaca.

Likewise, it is stated that UIF officials made false statements and fabricated complaints, as well as used irregular documents to block bank accounts.

According to the lawyers, they will present evidence to the Federal Public Ministry and will request that these facts be investigated.

In March, the lawyers also made it known that they filed various complaints on behalf of Cabeza de Vaca before the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) against Nieto, UIF officials and the current president of Tamaulipas, Americo Villareal, for making crimes.

The former governor of Tamaulipas is being investigated for organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin.

The lawyers assured that to obtain evidence they hired a firm of private investigators from a foreign company, said the legal representative of the former governor of Tamaulipas, Javier Coello Trejo. With this, they would have obtained videos that allegedly confirm these complaints.

Among the clips, there is a recording of last May 11, in a restaurant NY, in which an alleged former employee of the FIU, identified as Juan Carlos Monroy Vazquez, He told one of the investigators that the investigations against Cabeza de Vaca had a “political” motivation to “prevent” the governor from running for president, Coello Trejo said.

In the video, a man is heard asking Juan Carlos Monroy Vázquez if the motivation for the matter was political, to which the man answers yes. In addition, he affirms that AMLO would have given the order to investigate Cabeza de Vaca, because the politician said that he wanted to be president in 2024.

“We found things that were obvious, but the only thing that started that investigation was that Cabeza de Vaca said publicly: I’m going to run for president,” he says in the clip.

The man also affirms that Nieto would have requested favors from US financial authorities, because in Mexico accounts can only be frozen if a foreign institution requests it.