Mexican authorities are seeking two former Tamaulipas governors wanted for questioning in connection with a money laundering investigation.
Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba and Eugenio Hernández Flores are named in a detention warrant in connection with money laundering and organized crime, two officials with the Mexico Attorney General’s Office — known by its Spanish abbreviation PGR — independently confirmed to The Monitor. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Neither former governor has been charged with a crime in Mexico, and Yarrington has denied any wrongdoing. Mexican law allows individuals to be detained without charge pending questioning, which can then lead to a more prolonged detention of up to 40 days without charge for further investigation.
Last week the PGR asked Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission to freeze Yarrington’s bank accounts in connection with the case, one of the PGR sources said.
Hernández, 52, and Yarrington, 55, remained at large as of Saturday. The PGR official said Hernández, who served as governor from 2005 to 2010, is believed to be in Europe and Yarrington is believed to be in the United States.
Mexican media have reported seeing Yarrington in the Rio Grande Valley and in San Antonio in recent weeks.
Yarrington, who served as Tamaulipas governor from 1999 to 2005, does not face any criminal charges in the United States. However, U.S. federal court documents allege he bought a South Padre Island condo after receiving bribes from the Gulf Cartel, which is headquartered in Matamoros, the city where Yarrington once served as mayor.
Yarrington paid $450,000 for the 14th-floor unit but placed it in the name of business associate Napoleon Rodriguez, a former Tamaulipas state official under detention in Mexico — to avoid attention from federal investigators, according to the court documents.
On May 22, Mexican authorities detained Rodriguez and took him to the PGR’s organized crime division — known by its Spanish acronym SIEDO — for questioning, according to the agency and U.S. law enforcement officials. Mexican authorities also have detained several other prominent Tamaulipas businessmen for questioning or have searched their homes and businesses.
According to one of the PGR sources, Rodriguez admitted during questioning to having purchased the condominium on South Padre Island with money from Yarrington. The former governor purchased the $450,000 condo with three payments to Rodriguez.
Just days after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed the civil forfeiture suit seeking to seize the Island condo, Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, suspended Yarrington from the party’s ranks.
Also on May 22, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted Fernando Cano, a prominent highway construction contractor in Tamaulipas, who is now accused of laundering money for the Gulf Cartel and its rivals — and erstwhile enforcers — the Zetas. Court records indicate the cases are linked.
Cano remained at large as of Saturday.
PGR has issued no official confirmation of these details of the cases.
In February, U.S. federal authorities arrested Antonio Peña Arguelles in Laredo. Peña is accused of funneling Zeta bribes to Yarrington to purchase freedom from government interference.
Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba and Eugenio Hernández Flores are named in a detention warrant in connection with money laundering and organized crime, two officials with the Mexico Attorney General’s Office — known by its Spanish abbreviation PGR — independently confirmed to The Monitor. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Neither former governor has been charged with a crime in Mexico, and Yarrington has denied any wrongdoing. Mexican law allows individuals to be detained without charge pending questioning, which can then lead to a more prolonged detention of up to 40 days without charge for further investigation.
Last week the PGR asked Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission to freeze Yarrington’s bank accounts in connection with the case, one of the PGR sources said.
Hernández, 52, and Yarrington, 55, remained at large as of Saturday. The PGR official said Hernández, who served as governor from 2005 to 2010, is believed to be in Europe and Yarrington is believed to be in the United States.
Mexican media have reported seeing Yarrington in the Rio Grande Valley and in San Antonio in recent weeks.
Yarrington, who served as Tamaulipas governor from 1999 to 2005, does not face any criminal charges in the United States. However, U.S. federal court documents allege he bought a South Padre Island condo after receiving bribes from the Gulf Cartel, which is headquartered in Matamoros, the city where Yarrington once served as mayor.
Yarrington paid $450,000 for the 14th-floor unit but placed it in the name of business associate Napoleon Rodriguez, a former Tamaulipas state official under detention in Mexico — to avoid attention from federal investigators, according to the court documents.
On May 22, Mexican authorities detained Rodriguez and took him to the PGR’s organized crime division — known by its Spanish acronym SIEDO — for questioning, according to the agency and U.S. law enforcement officials. Mexican authorities also have detained several other prominent Tamaulipas businessmen for questioning or have searched their homes and businesses.
According to one of the PGR sources, Rodriguez admitted during questioning to having purchased the condominium on South Padre Island with money from Yarrington. The former governor purchased the $450,000 condo with three payments to Rodriguez.
Just days after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed the civil forfeiture suit seeking to seize the Island condo, Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, suspended Yarrington from the party’s ranks.
Also on May 22, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted Fernando Cano, a prominent highway construction contractor in Tamaulipas, who is now accused of laundering money for the Gulf Cartel and its rivals — and erstwhile enforcers — the Zetas. Court records indicate the cases are linked.
Cano remained at large as of Saturday.
PGR has issued no official confirmation of these details of the cases.
In February, U.S. federal authorities arrested Antonio Peña Arguelles in Laredo. Peña is accused of funneling Zeta bribes to Yarrington to purchase freedom from government interference.
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