CDMX.- A Texas judge rejected the request of two former executives of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to dismiss a case against them for alleged corruption by awarding “unnecessary and overvalued” million-dollar natural gas contracts to the US company WhiteWater Midstream, published the newspaper El País.
According to a transcript of a hearing held on March 17 in federal court in Houston, Texas, lawyers for both former officials failed to convince the judge to stop the civil case against Guillermo Turrent and Javier Gutiérrez, who led the CFE Internacional in the Administration of PRI member Enrique Peña.
“They argued that too much time had passed since the contracts were awarded between 2016 and 2018, and suggested that CFE International should have caught the misconduct while the two were working at the company.
“The hearing transcript also shows that the judge dismissed the defense’s attempt to stop the proceedings, known as a stay motion, which claimed that CFE International’s case against him is a ‘multiple attack’ against Turrent and Gutierrez. “, indicated the Spanish newspaper.
Since September, the CFE filed a lawsuit for breach of contract before a court in Texas against both former executives of its subsidiary in the United States, alleging that they improperly awarded a lucrative gas supply contract.
The lawsuit, filed by a unit of the CFE, was presented within the framework of the efforts of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to reconsider agreements in the energy sector that, in his opinion, harm the company and the Pemex oil company.
The indictment alleges that Turrent and Gutierrez awarded Texas-based WhiteWater Midstream LLC contracts for a gas pipeline and supply, costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, according to the lawsuit filed in District Court. of Harris County.
The hearing transcript details that they “pre-committed these three main contracts, which are at issue with WhiteWater Midstream, without participating in any competitive bidding process and without disclosing it to the board,” according to one of the lawyers representing CFE International. , quoted El País.
He added that the allegations include that the former executives failed to disclose personal and business relationships, side deals or financial arrangements they had with WhiteWater Midstream executives.
“The state company alleges that Turrent and Gutierrez ‘conducted phony bid competitions to give the false appearance of fairness and competition, rigged the evaluation of bids that arose from those competitions, and lied to the board and outside attorneys about what they were doing. ‘”, referred to the Spanish newspaper.
It should be remembered that, in mid-August, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) prosecuted the case against both former managers, who were going to be charged in an initial hearing for the alleged crime of improper exercise of public service.
However, the proceeding was postponed because they had not had access to all the records in the file and others had not been translated from English.
The lawsuit seeks compensation of at least $1 million in damages.
