Argentina detains businessman at the center of a Mexican corruption scandal
Argentine authorities and Interpol detained on Friday abusinessmanwho was at thecentreof aMexicancorruptionscandalin 2004 that hurt the reputation of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who at the time was Mexico City's mayor and is now the nation's president.
The detained ArgentinebusinessmanCarlos Ahumada was filmed in 2004 giving bundles of money to Lopez Obrador's main ally in the City Council, Rene Bejarano.
Support for Lopez Obrador at the time was battered by the graftscandal.
Ahumada was detained at the request ofMexicanauthorities and a process to extradite him to Mexico will begin immediately, theMexicanattorney general's office (FGR) said in a statement.
The FGR said it suspects Ahumada of committing tax fraud of around 1.47 million pesos ($74,910).
In 2004, investigators wanted to question him over an alleged $3 million in missing public funds.
Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, has made fighting corruption a cornerstone of his administration.