Mystery of Mexico's president, a luxury mansion and cancelled US$3.7b bullet-train contract
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 11 November, 2014, 4:58am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 11 November, 2014, 4:58am
Agencies in Mexico City
Enrique Pena Nieto and wife Angelica Rivera arrive in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua
The sprawling mansion in the elegant hills on Mexico City's western edge is said to be worth US$7 million. Its floors and walls are white marble, it is equipped with spas and pools, and it boasts coloured lighting that allows rooms to be flooded in orange or purple or pink.
Who lives in this palace of pricey if questionable taste, dubbed the White House?
According to a new report, none other than President Enrique Pena Nieto and his soap-star wife, who arrived in Beijing yesterday for the Apec Summit.
He never paid for it, however.
The luxury home on a 15,220 sq ft property was built and is owned by Ingenieria Inmobiliaria del Centro, a company belonging to Grupo Higa, according to a report published on Sunday by Aristegui Noticias, the website of journalist Carmen Aristegui.
Constructora Teya, another Grupo Higa company, was part of a Chinese-led consortium awarded the US$3.7 billion Mexico City-Queretaro high-speed railway contract, a project Pena Nieto showcased as part of his push to modernise transport.
Opposition lawmakers criticised the rapid approval process that produced only one bidder as smacking of the insider favours long associated with Pena Nieto's political party, the institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The winning consortium included China Railway Construction Corp and the Mexican firms Constructora y Edificadora GIA, GHP Infraestructura Mexicana, Prodemex and Constructora Teya.
Enrique Pena Nieto and wife Angelica Rivera's white mansion. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Aware that the Aristegui investigation was in the works, Pena Nieto's government abruptly cancelled the lucrative bullet-train contract on Friday. A government statement said the bidding process would be reopened.
Meanwhile Pena Nieto's office issued a statement saying his wife, Angelica Rivera, signed a contract to buy the house almost a year before Pena Nieto took office. She had a down payment of 30 per cent of the cost.
The president's office said Rivera had the resources and was making payments to Ingenieria Inmobiliaria del Centro. Once she had paid off the debt, the ownership of the house would be changed to Rivera's name.
According to the Aristegui article, Grupo Higa and its affiliates were granted more than 8 billion pesos (HK$4.57 billion) in construction projects in the state of Mexico when Pena Nieto was governor.
Eolo Plus, an air-charter service owned by Grupo Higa, ferried Pena Nieto and other officials during his 2012 presidential campaign, while another Grupo Higa company printed campaign materials.
McClatchy-Tribune, Associated Press
