• CLEARED: The Mexican government’s Ministry in charge of investigating discrepancies in asset declarations of public officials cleared the head of the state-owned electric utility, Manuel Bartlett, of wrongdoing saying he had no obligation to declare assets owned by his longtime partner and family.
• INVESTIGATION: Almost four months after journalists Areli Quintero and Carlos Loret showed that Bartlett may have failed to disclose assets and conflict of interest related to 25 properties worth USD 41 billion and 12 private companies, the Ministry for Public Administration announced he did nothing wrong.
• NO OBLIGATION: “The public servant did had the legal obligation to declare those properties…since none of their owners maintains a relationship of marriage, common-law marriage or economic dependence”, Minister Irma Eréndira Sandoval said on Bartlett’s case.
• ONE YEAR: Having just celebrated its first year in office, López Obrador was elected President on an anti-corruption mantle following years of scandals. Mexico’s place in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index fell from number 89 in 2009 to 138 in 2018.
