First Lady Says She Will Sell Mexico City Mansion at Center of Scandal Dave Graham and Luis Rojas - Reuters
go to original November 19, 2014

Mexico's First Lady Angelica Rivera attempted to clarify the endless questions about the family's multimillion-dollar home. (Angelica Rivera)

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's first lady said on Tuesday she would give up a house at the center of a scandal that created a potential conflict of interest between President Enrique Pena Nieto and a company bidding for a lucrative rail contract.

The Mexican government this month abruptly cancelled a $3.75-billion high speed rail contract awarded to a consortium led by China Railway Construction Corp Ltd that featured a Mexican company known as Grupo Higa.

It then emerged that a subsidiary of Grupo Higa owned a luxury house that Pena Nieto's wife Angelica Rivera was in the process of acquiring, raising questions about the tender.

In a televised statement, Rivera, who was one of Mexico's most popular soap actresses before marrying Pena Nieto in 2010, said she had paid off about 14.3 million pesos ($1.05 million) of the value of the house and would sell her stake to settle any outstanding questions about the matter.

"Because I don't want this to continue being a pretext to offend and defame my family," Rivera said.

Read the rest at Reuters

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!