Mexico’s odor of Odebrecht

Mexico has been criticized for dragging its feet on investigating the influence of the pan-American Lava Jato scandal.

But the delays may soon come to an end, with several lawmakers insisting that President-elect Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador re-open the state’s investigation into the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, and its systemic bribery and influence-peddling campaigns in at least a dozen countries.

The outgoing attorney general’s investigation was inconclusive, AND lawmakers still want answers about a complicated set of transactions in which the metal-recycling corporation AHMSA received $275 million for a plant it sold to the state-owned oil giant PEMEX.

AHMSA also simultaneously transferred $3.7 million to Odebrecht subsidiary Grangemouth — and another $5 million to Emilio Lozoya, the PEMEX CEO.

This has raised suspicions among Mexican anti-corruption crusaders of an elaborate bribery scheme.