Mexican president challenges UK asylum given to woman accused of corruption | Mexico
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government would send a formal letter of complaint to authorities in the United Kingdom following a search for the wife of a former governor. Allegedly He was granted asylum in the UK after stealing £4.8 million of public money.
Karime Macías, the ex-wife of jailed former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, is wanted for extradition to Mexico for allegedly siphoning millions from the state welfare office, but she has reportedly spent the last few years in London.
“How can a woman accused of fraud and corruption be granted asylum?” Sheinbaum asked. “We are sending a letter regarding this position today.”
Neither the British embassy nor Macias’ lawyer responded to a request for comment. The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases. Macías’ asylum in England was first reported by Mexican authorities news source N+.
Macías was First Lady of Veracruz from December 2010 to October 2016, when her husband resigned amid allegations of organized crime and embezzlement. It was claimed that he siphoned billions of lira from the state coffers.
At the time, Duarte and Macías’s alleged crimes embodied the corruption that had plagued Mexico for years and had become particularly rampant during the government of then-president Enrique Peña Nieto. Mexico remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International last ranking It ranks 141st among 182 countries.
Duarte fled the country after his resignation but was arrested in Guatemala six months later. He was jailed in Mexico on money laundering and conspiracy charges. Mexican prosecutors recently requested an extension of his sentence on charges that he embezzled £215,000 from a state fund that was supposed to support children and the elderly.
While serving as First Lady, Macías reportedly enjoyed the use of a 15-acre, $9.7 million ranch called El Faunito, whose walls were adorned with paintings by Latin American masters such as Rufino Tamayo and Fernando Botero.
He was also the head of the state welfare department, which allegedly awarded contracts worth millions of pounds to shell companies. Authorities later found a warehouse full of items belonging to the couple, including Macías’ notebooks.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum showed a page from one of Macías’ notebooks in which he had repeatedly written, “I deserve abundance.”
Macías disappeared shortly after her husband’s capture. In 2018, a Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for Macías, accusing him of embezzlement. Days later, Duarte’s successor, Miguel Ángel Yunes, presented the findings of his months-long surveillance study, claiming that he was living a luxurious life in London.
According to Yunes’ research, Macías owned a house in Belgravia, one of London’s wealthiest neighborhoods, less than a mile from Buckingham Palace. Macías reportedly spends at least £60,000 a month and participates in a “facial gym” to strengthen his facial muscles.
On the same day the findings were announced, Interpol reportedly issued a red notice for Macías’ arrest, but he is not currently on the agency’s wanted list.
It was Macias detained But he was released by British authorities in October 2019 after paying £150,000 on bail to face extradition charges. He also agreed to wear an ankle monitor.
In 2022, the Westminster magistrates court ruled in favor of extraditing him to Mexico, but Macías’ legal team filed several appeals to halt the process. According to local newsa fact that the Mexican foreign ministry did not share with British officials, claiming that the case against him had expired.
Macías had also submitted a petition for asylum to the British government, claiming that he was the victim of political persecution by the Mexican government. According to news, The disgraced First Lady was granted asylum in Britain last year.
In addition to condemning the British government’s decision, President Sheinbaum also questioned how Macías could live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
“Who knows where this person, who has been living in England for a long time, got the money? Because they have children there, they live in a private place, where did they get the money?”
