The long-running legal troubles of a former governor of the northern border state of Chihuahua have intensified.
César Duarte was detained on Monday on charges related to the use of ill-gotten resources, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said, noting that a warrant for his arrest was issued in May 2024.
Duarte, Institutional Revolutionary Party governor of Chihuahua between 2010 and 2016 and a federal and state lawmaker before that, was arrested in Chihuahua city and subsequently transferred to the Altiplano federal prison in México state, where he was scheduled to face an initial hearing on Tuesday.
He was taken into custody while awaiting trial on separate embezzlement and criminal association charges that are being prosecuted by the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office, according to the FGR.
The FGR said in a statement that the ex-governor was arrested on Monday “for his probable responsibility in the crime of operations with resources of illicit origin.”
It is the first federal crime of which Duarte has been formally accused.
The Federal Attorney General’s Office, now led by new Attorney General Ernestina Godoy, pointed to Duarte’s “probable intervention as a public servant in Chihuahua in a money laundering scheme, in which he tried to hide resources of illicit origin diverted from state coffers, using the Mexican financial system for that purpose.”
The arrest of the ex-governor came more than three years after he was extradited to Mexico from the United States. Duarte was detained in Miami, Florida, in July 2020 on corruption charges. He had been working at an auto parts business in that city.
After his extradition, Duarte was held at a prison in Chihuahua until he was released pending trial in June 2024.
The FGR said that on Oct. 4, 2024, a request was submitted to the United States government for authorization to prosecute Duarte “for a crime distinct to those of embezzlement and criminal association.”
It said that the U.S. — which approved Duarte’s extradition to face embezzlement and criminal association charges in Chihuahua — granted that authorization on Dec. 4, one year and two months after the request was submitted. Duarte’s arrest came just four days after the U.S. authorization.
The Reforma newspaper reported that “it’s the third time that the United States authorizes Mexico to initiate criminal proceedings … [against] Duarte, although on the two previous occasions the accusations were under common [state] jurisdiction.”
The FGR noted that Duarte “is considered innocent” until proven otherwise.
Triple jeopardy?
Duarte’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Mendoza, asserted on Tuesday that his client was arrested on the same charges that are being prosecuted by the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office.
He claimed that the prosecution of Duarte on what the FGR called a “distinct” federal charge amounts to “triple jeopardy.”
Mendoza also asserted that Godoy “is being misinformed” about his client’s legal situation.
The common jurisdiction charges Duarte faces are related to the alleged embezzlement of 96.6 million pesos (US $5.3 million at today’s exchange rate) from the Chihuahua government between 2011 and 2014.
“How is it possible that he’s now being arrested for events that are already being prosecuted here in Chihuahua,” Mendoza said, adding that a situation of “triple jeopardy” is “something” that he has never seen before.
Duarte is among a large group of former governors of Mexican states who have been accused of — and in various cases convicted of — corruption. They include Javier Duarte of Veracruz, Roberto Borge of Quintana Roo and Roberto Sandoval of Nayarit.
With reports from Milenio, El Universal, Reforma, Aristegui Noticias and El Financiero
