Mexico City – A brother-in-law of the ruling party candidate for the Mexican presidency, Felipe Calderon, sued the leftist candidate Andres Lopez Obrador for denouncing supposed influence peddling by his political rival to benefit relatives.
Businessman Diego Zavala, brother-in-law of Calderon, went Friday to a Mexico City civil court to file a complaint for “moral damages” against Lopez Obrador, who is fighting it out with the conservative candidate for first place in voter preference polls leading up to the July 2 election.
“I have filed suit for moral damages since Lopez Obrador has not apologized for having said that my company obtained contracts worth millions when Calderon was energy minister between September 2003 and May 2004,” Zavala said when he left the court.
Followers of former Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador shouted angrily at Calderon’s brother-in-law when he left the courthouse, reporters said.
Lopez Obrador, of the leftist opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said that the Hildebrando company owned by Zavala earned 2.5 billion pesos ($220 million) over the past five years from “too many” government contracts, thanks to “influence peddling.”
The leftist candidate made the first complaint about this case last Tuesday in a television debate with the other four candidates, among them Calderon, who denied having acted improperly as a public official or having ever favored his relatives.
“My hands are clean,” said Calderon, the candidate of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) to which Mexican President Vicente Fox also belongs.
The ruling party candidate also said that Lopez Obrador lied and asked his rival to present the proof he claims to have about the supposed influence peddling.
Associates of Lopez Obrador on Friday handed over documents containing the supposed evidence at Calderon’s campaign headquarters, but PAN secretary general Cesar Nava told the media that “the boxes they brought were empty.”
“We deplore this conduct and the way they answer our challenge is to show this evidence, which in political terms presents nothing new,” Nava said.
But Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the Lopez Obrador campaign team, said they had delivered “the documents” to PAN campaign headquarters, and that “it was a heated moment but we are confident that all we say is true.”
The Hildebrando company, which sells computer services, was mentioned by PRD leaders as the supposed beneficiary of contracts from the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), which organizes elections, but the directors of that agency denied the accusation.
The dispute between Calderon and Lopez Obrador brought new tension to the campaign three weeks before the election, and appears to be a continuation of the “dirty war” of which each has been accusing the other for months.
The presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Roberto Madrazo, third in the polls after Lopez Obrador and Calderon, said that conflict between the leading candidates could lead to violence.
To ensure that does not happen, the five parties fielding candidates are to sign an accord Tuesday that seeks to guarantee that the presidential and congressional balloting transpires peacefully and transparently.
Mexicans will go to the polls on July 2 to choose a successor for Fox, who will leave office on December 1, and to elect the new members of the bicameral Congress.
