Former Mexico City Mayor's financial operator arrested on corruption charges

Miguel Ángel Vásquez, financial operator for former Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera, was arrested early Thursday morning by members of the Mexico City Attorney General's Office.

Vásques, who had been arrested and immediately released last December after his defense filed an appeal, is accused of a number of crimes, including money laundering and failing to pay pensioners' contributions.

"We are going to brutally fight against acts of corruption, it has nothing to do with [political] persecution," said Ulises Lara López, spokesperson for the local prosecutor's office. He added that Vásquez was arrested at his home in the posh Jardines del Pedregal neighborhood

The spokesperson further explained that the Mancera administration former official was arrested in the context of the case investigating him for improper use of powers and crimes committed by public servants, for allegedly failing to pay the contributions of retirees and pensioners of the ISSSTE during his time as President of the Council of the Police Welfare Fund of Mexico City.

Lara Lopez said that Vásquez, who also held the position of undersecretary of Human Capital in the Mancera administration, "acted in an orchestrated manner with other officials and had knowledge" of a scheme that, according to his calculations, cost the local treasury more than 15 million dollars.

Vásques is not the only man close to Mancera -who is currently a PRD Senator- to be targeted by the justice system. According to press reports, the Financial Intelligence Unit is investigating his former personal assistant, Luis Serna, and his brother, Julio César Serna, for money laundering and tax evasion, as they suspect they may have served as frontmen for the former mayor of Mexico City.