Mexican Supreme Court Justice resigns amid corruption questions

FILE PHOTO: Mexico's new Supreme Court judge Eduardo Medina Mora (R) arrives to attend an official welcoming ceremony for him at the Supreme Court building in Mexico City March 17, 2015. [Reuters]

A Mexican Supreme Court Justice has resigned, the president’s office said on Thursday, after the judge faced questions about a possible probe by Mexico’s financial intelligence unit.

Justice Eduardo Medina Mora, 62, was appointed under prior President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2015, and, according to local media, was set to serve until 2030.

Under the last administration he also was ambassador to the United States, and under prior President Felipe Calderon, was attorney general.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accepted Medina Mora’s request to leave his post and would send it to the Senate for final approval, his office said, but did not provide further details.

Medina Mora could not be reached for comment.

Lopez Obrador told reporters in June that the financial intelligence unit, which probes money laundering and other financial crimes, had received information on Medina Mora from US authorities.

He declined to state whether an investigation was underway.

Following Lopez Obrador’s June comments, the financial intelligence chief said his office had been asked by the Senate to analyze the financial transfers pertaining to a Justice, without naming the person.

The financial intelligence unit declined to comment on Thursday.

Lopez Obrador, a veteran leftist who unseated Pena Nieto’s decades-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) when he took office in December, has vowed to root out Mexico’s entrenched corruption, starting from the top.

Medina Mora’s exit, which leaves 10 other justices in the court, was unusual, said Ricardo Monreal, Senate leader of the president’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).

“I really lament his decision, but he’ll have his own story and truth to tell,” Monreal told reporters.

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