Mexican Politician and Gubernatorial Hopeful Accused of Bribery by US

Mexican Politician and Gubernatorial Hopeful Accused of Bribery by US

MCALLEN, Texas — Yet another Mexican politician has become the target of a federal investigation into bribery and laundering funds in the U.S.

On Thursday morning U.S. federal prosecutors moved to seize multiple bank accounts belonging to Homero De la Garza, the former head of the Tamaulipas Housing and Urban Development Office, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas show. According to various Mexican media outlets, De La Garza is one of the likely contenders for the next gubernatorial election in Tamaulipas.

De La Garza, who has not been criminally charged but has been named in the civil action, had run the department for the State from 2005 to 2010 during the term that Eugenio Hernandez Flores was governor of Tamaulipas. Hernandez is also the target of a civil action accusing him of also laundering money that he received from bribes and other illicit activity.

The civil action claims that as of last month, De La Garza had almost $1,110,000 in his bank accounts which prosecutors claim came from a long series of bribes that he got from contractors in exchange rigging bids. The moneys that De La Garza received were deposited into various accounts at three separate banks in McAllen in amounts of $100,000 or so per deposit.  

As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, the list of Mexican politicians with court problems continues to grow. So far two former Tamaulipas governors Hernandez and Tomas Yarrington have been implicated in money laundering. Yarrington has also been implicated in drug trafficking allegedly having worked for Los Zetas, the Beltran Leyva Cartel and the Gulf Cartel. Yarrington is considered a fugitive from justice and is believed to be hiding out in Mexico.

The former mayor of Matamoros Erick Silva Santos is also a current fugitive standing accused of money laundering for allegedly moving bribe money into the U.S. through bank accounts, real estate as well as moving the money to Bermuda accounts.

Silva Santo previously spoke with Breitbart Texas in Mexico where he denied the accusations against him claiming to have been an honest politician who worked for the poor. 

Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter @ildefonsoortiz.

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