Mexico leader faces charge contractor rewarded him with mansion

[Judi Lynn]

3. Report: Rail contractor owns Mexico pres' home

Report: Rail contractor owns Mexico pres' home

The Associated Press
November 9, 2014
Updated 9 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY — The private home of President Enrique Pena Nieto was built and is registered under the name of a company connected to a controversial high-speed rail contract that he abruptly canceled last week, according to a report by a leading Mexican journalist.

The $7 million home on a 15,220-square-foot property in Mexico City's most exclusive neighborhood was built and is owned by Ingenieria Inmobiliaria del Centro, a company belonging to Grupo Higa, according the report published Sunday by Aristegui Noticias, website of journalist Carmen Aristegui.

Constructora Teya, another Grupo Higa company, was part of a Chinese-led consortium that received the $3.7 billion, Mexico-Queretaro high-speed rail contract, a project Pena Nieto showcased as part of his push to modernize transportation in the country. Opposition lawmakers criticized the rapid approval process that produce only one bidder as smacking of the insider favors 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.

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