AMLO says he will ask Pemex to reveal information on alleged Vitol bribes

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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday that his government will ask state-oil company Pemex to reveal information regarding the alleged receiving of bribes from Vitol, the world’s largest independent energy trader.

Reuters revealed last year that Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), as the company is formally known, had deepened investigations into the matter.

Pemex also canceled several contracts it considered unfavorable and banned new business with the energy trader.

Pemex took the decision after it and Vitol had spent months re-negotiating some of the hundreds of millions of US dollars worth of contracts.

“Apparently, the information about who received those bribes is already known,” Lopez Obrador said during one of his regular news conferences. “We’re going to ask Pemex to report on this today.”

Lopez Obrador did not clarify whether Vitol had provided the names of the officials who allegedly received the bribes or whether internal investigations had yielded them.

Vitol declined to comment on the matter, but the company has previously said that interactions with customers are usually bound by a duty of confidentiality and that it always cooperates with the relevant authorities.

Since last year, the world’s major independent energy traders have faced increased scrutiny globally for alleged corruption after years of investigations into bribes of public officials in several countries in Latin America.

Source: El Universal

Mexico Daily Post