World News
Panama to extradite Mexican ex governor on graft charges
U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne and Quintana Roo Governor Roberto Borge Angulo at the U.S. Consulate in Merida on Friday, February 10, 2012. (Photo By Embassy of the United States in Mexico City – http://mexico.usembassy.gov/press-releases/ambassador-anthony-wayne-welcomes-governor-of-quintana-roo.html, Public Domain)
PANAMA CITY— Panama on Friday approved extradition for a Mexican fugitive ex-governor wanted on corruption charges in his home country, one of several former governors from Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party accused of graft.The Associated Press
The resolution signed by Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and Foreign Minister Isabel De Saint Malo gives Mexican authorities 30 days to repatriate Roberto Borge, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Monica De Leon said.
Borge was governor of Quintana Roo state, which is home to the Caribbean resort city of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula, from 2011 to 2016.
He was arrested in June at Panama City’s international airport as he was about to board a flight to Paris.
Borge is accused of corruption through the sale of state properties worth more than $250 million to buyers allegedly linked to a former governor. The properties sold at a fraction of their estimated values. In February prosecutors seized 25 parcels of land in connection with the case.
Borge denied the accusations against him in court appearances in Panama.
Lawyer Carlos Carrillo in Panama had filed multiple court appeals arguing that his client’s detention was illegal and saying he was being held in “inhumane” conditions.
