Mexico City, Mar 25 (EFE).- The principal stockholder of Oceanografia, a company accused of defrauding Mexican banking giant Banamex, will be held in preventive detention for 40 days, allowing prosecutors to gather more evidence against him, the Attorney General's Office said, citing a judge's order.
Amado Yañez appeared before prosecutors last weekend after they issued a summons for him as part of the investigation.
Oceanografia is under investigation for allegedly defrauding Banamex, a unit of U.S.-based Citigroup, of about $360 million and other irregularities.
The company, a contractor for state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, allegedly submitted false documents in the third quarter of 2013 and in January to obtain the loan from Banamex.
"We are trying to determine the crime, that is, there are elements in crimes (and) we are going to determine with precision and evidence what they are," Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.
"The judge authorized 40 days of preventive detention," Murillo said.
Preventive detention is a legal provision that allows suspects to be held either under house arrest or in prison while prosecutors build a case.
Yañez has been in custody since he appeared before prosecutors last Saturday to give a statement in the Oceanografia case.
Oceanografia was seized on Feb. 28 on an order issued by the AG's office and a receiver was named to run the company.
Officials are trying to keep the company's 11,000 employees on the job and "maintain the operational continuity of Pemex," as well as to "punish the crimes that may have been committed," Murillo said.
Oceanografia, which operates 87 vessels, provides repair and maintenance services to Pemex.
U.S. officials have asked Citigroup to provide information about the operations of its Mexican banking unit, with the requests coming days after the New York-based fianancial services company cut its 4th-quarter and full-year 2013 earnings due to the fraud detected at Banamex.
