Judge denies request to seize Mexican ex-governor's assets

Andres Granier, 65, who governed that southeastern state from 2007 to 2012, appeared before Judge Olga Sanchez Contreras on Wednesday and faces tax-fraud and money laundering charges.

The sources told Efe that Sanchez Contreras, who took Granier's preliminary statement at a jail in this capital, rejected a petition from prosecutors to seize the erstwhile governor's assets.

They said the decision was made because the request was not part of the court summons for Granier's arrest, but did not rule out the possibility that a new petition for an asset seizure could be granted.

The 65-year-old Granier, who returned to Mexico earlier this month from Miami, was taken to jail on Tuesday night after being hospitalized for the treatment of heart problems following his return to the country.

Two arrest warrants were issued for Granier earlier this week, the federal Attorney General's Office said.

The arrest warrants were issued "because of the likely commission of crimes in transactions involving resources from illicit sources and fiscal fraud," the AG's office said in a statement.

Granier, a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had previously been wanted only for questioning by state prosecutors in Tabasco.

Tabasco Gov. Arturo Nuñez said on Feb. 22 that an audit of the Granier administration found 1.91 billion pesos ($152 million) was missing.

The former governor alleges that Nuñez, a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, is behind a campaign to discredit the PRI.

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