MEXICO CITY (AP) - A judge in Mexico on Wednesday ordered a prominent attorney linked to former presidents to stand trial on charges of organized crime and money laundering.
A federal official who was not authorized to be quoted by name confirmed the case involves allegations that lawyer Juan Ramon Collado created front companies to handle money from questionable land deals.
Collado has reportedly represented the brother of ex-President Carlos Salinas and other prominent politicians.
Collado was arrested Tuesday in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. The judge in the case ruled there was enough evidence to hold him pending trial.
A woman who answered the phone at his law office said his legal team had no immediate comment on the case.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the case was filed two or three years ago but had been ignored by the previous administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which also reportedly had ties to Collado.
López Obrador said last year when running for the presidency that he wouldn’t focus on pursuing past cases of corruption, but rather concentrate on preventing future ones.
But since then, his administration has pursued a criminal case against the man who headed the state-owned Pemex oil company under Pena Nieto, Emilio Lozoya. Prosecutors say there is evidence linking him to the 2015 sale of a fertilizer plant to Pemex for an inflated price
Please read our comment policy before commenting.