Mexico's first lady returns mansion after scandal broke out
Source: Associated Press
Aug 21, 12:38 PM EDT
Mexico's first lady returns mansion after scandal broke out
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican First Lady Angelica Rivera has returned the $7 million mansion she bought from a firm that won lucrative contracts with the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico's Public Administration Department said Friday.
Department head Virgilio Andrade said neither the president nor his wife had incurred in conflicts of interest in the house purchase in early 2012.
After a scandal erupted amid news reports about the property, Rivera said late last year she was buying the house from the company on monthly payments with money she earned as an actress. The company was to hold title to the mansion until it was paid off.
Rivera said last year she would sell her rights to the property after questions arose about the president's relationship with contractor Grupo Higa. The mansion was built by one of contractor's subsidiaries.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_MEXICO_PRESIDENTS_HOUSE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-21-11-51-33
Three views of the mansion, the white house:
[center]
President Pena Nieto and his wife, Angelica Rivera [/center]
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Mexicos first lady yet to act on vow to sell tainted home
The revelation will lead to more controversy for Pena Nieto
Published: 13:58 August 5, 2015 Gulf News
By Nick Allen, The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2015
Los Angeles: Last November, Mexicos first lady Angelica Rivera gave a bravura performance in a televised address to the nation. The former soap opera star vowed to sell a $7 million (Dh25 million) mansion she had bought from a key government contractor, in an attempt to end a corruption scandal that had rocked the government of her husband President Enrique Pena Nieto.
I have nothing to hide, she declared. I dont want this to continue to be a pretext to offend or defame my family. But it seems Miss Rivera is having problems parting with the luxurious home, nicknamed The White House. Eight months have passed and it has yet to be put on the market. The revelation will lead to more controversy for Pena Nieto, and his glamorous wife.
Rivera, 46, once one of Mexicos most famous television actresses, is already facing a backlash over her penchant for designer clothes and far-flung holidays, and her ownership of a multimillion dollar apartment in Miami. The six-bedroom home that has caused Rivera the most trouble is in Mexico Citys most exclusive neighbourhood. It was built by Mexican architect Miguel Angel Aragones as a series of white cubes with marble floors. It is owned by Ingenieria Inmobiliaria del Centro, a subsidiary of Grupo Higa, a key government construction contractor. The company and its subsidiaries had previously won $652 million in contracts in Mexico State when Nieto was governor there. Rivera has said she paid for the house with her own money from acting, and a $4 million loan from Ingenieria Inmobiliaria del Centro, which was to be paid back over eight years at a rate of 9 per cent.
National Public Radio in America recently obtained all the publicly available documents relating to the house and found it had still not been sold. A spokesman for the president subsequently confirmed that. However, the spokesman said Rivera was simply waiting until the end of an investigation into the scandal before selling it.
http://gulfnews.com/news/americas/mexico/mexico-s-first-lady-yet-to-act-on-vow-to-sell-tainted-home-1.1561707
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forest444
(5,902 posts)I'm referring of course to the Policía Federal chief made famous in the early '80s for his numerous Neoclassical mansions purchased by way of many, many mordidas into the Mexican drug rackets (certainly not with his 1,000 dollar-a-month salary).
Can't say I blame him!