The Guardian paga indemnización a Aurora Pierdant; llegan a acuerdo final.
El reportaje, difundido en varios medios...:lo publiqué integro en ingles en mi bitácora:
http://fredalvarez.blogspot.mx/2016/08/mexican-first-ladys-florida-home-owned.html
Durante una comparecencia ante una corte de Londres, el medio británico reiteró su disculpa pública por una nota inexacta respecto de la abogada mexicana.
El rotativo publicó esta semana que “el artículo alegaba falsamente que la señora Pierdant era culpable de corrupción y estaba involucrada en prácticas deshonestas en conexión con el actual Presidente de México, Enrique Peña Nieto, y su esposa, Angélica Rivera”.
Representantes legales de The Guardian y de Pierdant comparecieron ante una corte de Londres el martes 9 de mayo de 2017..
El texto...
Aurora Pierdant - ApologyPlease see the corrections from the Readers’ Editor here.
On 9 August, we published a story that referred to Aurora Pierdant, a Mexican lawyer. We stated that in 2011 she had been fired by the Mexican state oil firm, Pemex, for administrative negligence and had been banned from the public sector for one year. We however omitted to state that throughout this process, Ms Pierdant had continuously (and rightly) asserted her innocence, and that both the dismissal and the ban were later overturned by an appeal court, such that her name was cleared and her unblemished record restored with no ongoing suspicion about her legal practice or expertise.
We apologise to her for having published an incomplete history, which we accept seriously misrepresented her professional status. We have now removed the article from our website (“Mexican first lady’s Florida home owned by potential government contractor”:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/mexico-first-lady-florida-property-government-contractor-documents-reveal).
Since you’re here …
… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.
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Corrections and clarifications
Corrections and clarifications column editor
Friday 16 September 2016 19.28 BST Last modified on Friday 16 September 2016 22.00 BST
• Aurora Pierdant: On 9 August, we published a story that referred to Aurora Pierdant, a Mexican lawyer. We stated that in 2011 she had been fired by the Mexican state oil firm, Pemex, for administrative negligence and had been banned from the public sector for one year. We however omitted to state that throughout this process, Ms Pierdant had continuously (and rightly) asserted her innocence, and that both the dismissal and the ban were later overturned by an appeal court, such that her name was cleared and her unblemished record restored with no ongoing suspicion about her legal practice or expertise. We apologise to her for having published an incomplete history, which we accept seriously misrepresented her professional status. We have now removed the article from our website.
• Ricardo Pierdant: On 9 and 12 August, we published stories that alleged, wrongly, that Ricardo Pierdant and his businesses had a potential conflict of interest, because the First Lady of Mexico, Angelica Rivera, had occasional access to a luxury apartment that he owns in Miami, while at the same time we said, his companies were expected to be tendering for lucrative Mexican government contracts. While it is not disputed that, in 2014, Mr Pierdant paid the 2013 Property Tax due on an apartment owned by Mrs Rivera, nor that he and the President are long time personal friends, we accept that none of Mr Pierdant’s companies have obtained any contracts with the Mexican government nor have they participated in any such contracting processes. In the light of this, we accept that the underlying premise of our articles were wrong. We have now removed the articles from our website and we apologise to Mr Pierdant for having made such a suggestion.
• In a piece about the introduction in England and Wales of a polymer £5 note, we said that Scotland would have to wait a little longer. Some polymer £5 notes are already in circulation in Scotland: Clydesdale Bank issued a limited edition in March last year (We promise to pay the bearer on demand – with a shiny new fiver, 10 September, page 46).
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• A review of the third novel in a trilogy about New York’s elite was illustrated with a photo of Park Avenue. Sharp-eyed readers wondered why the traffic was driving on the left. It wasn’t; the photo had been flipped by the agency (Bright, Precious Days by Jay McInerney, 10 September, page 11, Review).
• The surname of Austen Ivereigh, the author of a biography of Pope Francis, was misspelled as Iverleigh in an article about the Vatican (Come on in, the ceilings are lovely, 10 September, page 29, Weekend). A few days later it was misspelled again, this time as Invereigh, in a letter (Religion’s role in the global population crisis, 13 September, page 36).
• Near-homophone corner: “Uniting the desperate styles is [Billy] Joel’s sublime and surprisingly evergreen voice” (Everyman rocker gets intimate with Wembley, 12 September, page 3, later editions).
Since you’re here …
… we’ve got a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever, but far fewer are paying for it. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.
Pierdant agregó dijo vía Twitter que el monto de la indemnización pagada por The Guardian fue menor -aunque no precisó ni la cantidad inicialmente propuesta, ni la que finalmente se entregó. “Lo relevante para mí es el reconocimiento de la difamación“, dijo.
Pierdant añadió que está analizando cómo proceder legalmente en México por daño moral.
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El reportaje, difundido en varios medios...:lo publiqué en mi bitácora: ya no existe en la web del periódico..
El reportaje, difundido en varios medios...:lo publiqué en mi bitácora: ya no existe en la web del periódico..
http://fredalvarez.blogspot.mx/2016/08/mexican-first-ladys-florida-home-owned.html
Mexican first lady's Florida home owned by potential government contractor
Guardian investigation reveals Angelica Rivera is using $2.05m luxury apartment bought by Grupo Pierdant, a contender to run Mexico’s ports
José Luis Montenegro in Mexico City and Julio C Roa in Florida
@jl_montenegroj
Tuesday 9 August 2016 13.00
Mexico’s first lady is using a luxury property in Florida bought by a company that is expected to bid for lucrative government contracts, the Guardian has learned.
Angelica Rivera, the wife of President Enrique Peña Nieto, is using the $2.05m apartment in Key Biscayne, south of Miami Beach, with the apparent blessing of Grupo Pierdant, which is a contender to run Mexico’s ports.
The company has also paid the property tax on an additional Key Biscayne apartment bought by a holding company set up by Rivera.
The arrangements echo aspects of Rivera’s purchase of a $7m mansion in Mexico City from another government contractor, the so-called Casa Blanca (White House) scandal.
The first couple’s perceived conflict of interest with the government’s contracting process landed like a bombshell in 2014, wrecking Peña Nieto’s popularity and reformist credentials and reviving long-standing concerns about corruption in the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The Guardian’s investigation into the Florida properties reveals an unorthodox relationship between the first lady and Grupo Pierdant, centered on Ocean Tower One, a gated community with a pool, tennis courts and white glove concierge in Key Biscayne, an affluent enclave in Miami-Dade County.
Rivera, a former telenovela star, bought a three-bedroom unit, number 304, in 2005. She revealed its existence publicly in November 2014 in the wake of the Casa Blanca controversy, which put her finances under scrutiny. Rivera said she had lived in the Florida apartment for one year with her daughters. It is currently worth around $3.5m, according to Zillow.
However, she made no mention of Grupo Pierdant nor the company’s founder, Ricardo Pierdant, who has extensive business interests in Mexico and the United States.
In 2009 Pierdant bought unit 404 in Ocean Tower One through a company, Biscayne Ocean Holdings, apparently set up for that purpose.
Since then he appears to have let the first lady use the property as an addition to her other apartment, in effect allowing them to be managed as a single unit.
The properties share the same phone number. A woman who answered in Spanish, and identified herself only as Maria, said packages for Rivera could be sent to either property. “It’s the same,” she said.
In March 2014 Pierdant’s company deepened the link – and raised fresh questions – by paying property tax not only on unit 404 but also on 304, even though it is in Rivera’s name. The latter’s tax bill for that year was $29,703.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Paid in march 2014, for 2013 tax years.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Photograph: Handout
Pierdant’s establishment of Biscayne Ocean Holdings to acquire his unit mimicked that of Rivera, who registered her own company, UNIT 304 OTO INC, to acquire hers. Pierdant and Rivera are the sole directors and owners of each company.
The nexus between the two raises concern because one of the businessman’s other companies, Grupo Pierdant, is reportedly in the running for government contracts to develop Mexico’s maritime ports.
When the Guardian phoned Pierdant to ask about the properties he hung up without explanation. Peña Nieto’s office rebuffed a request for comment, saying no one was available to discuss the topic. The president’s office later rebuffed a second request by saying the first lady’s properties were a security matter.
Pierdant’s link to Mexico’s first couple will come as news to Americans who know him as the co-founder of DecoBikes, a bicycle-sharing program in Miami and San Diego.
The apparent conflict of interest between his other firm, Grupo Pierdant, and the first lady echoes that over the Casa Blanca, a modernist white mansion in Mexico’s capital with seven bedrooms, marble floors and a spa.
Outrage erupted in 2014 when it emerged Rivera was buying the mansion from Grupo Higa, a company associated with a Chinese-led consortium that won a $3.7bn government contract to build a high-speed rail link.
Rivera and her husband, who has ruled Mexico since 2012, denied any wrongdoing, saying she was paying for the house in installments from her own TV-made fortune.
However the first lady later returned the property and last month Peña Nieto apologized, saying the scandal had dented faith in the presidency and government. “For this reason, with all humility I ask your forgiveness,” he told political leaders. “I reiterate my sincere and profound apology for the offense and indignation I have caused you.”
The president made the apology as he signed into law an anti-corruption system that his PRI party hopes will boost its flagging credibility in the run-up to the 2018 presidential election.
Mexican journalist and Penguin sued in bid to ban sale of bombshell book
However, Carmen Aristegui, the journalist who broke the Casa Blanca story, has been fired from her radio show and is being sued, along with her publisher, in an effort to pull the exposé from bookstores.
Disclosure of the first lady’s property arrangement in Florida may cast a fresh shadow over a ruling party which became synonymous with corruption during the 20th century.
The properties at Ocean Tower One “the most the most upscale beach front condominium on the beautiful island of Key Biscayne,” according to a realtor’s blurb – are not the only connection between the administration and Pierdant.
In 2014 the state-run national hydrocarbons commission, which regulates hydrocarbon exploration, paid the equivalent of $61,500 to the businessman’s sister, Aurora Pierdant, a lawyer, for advice on energy law.
This was despite the fact that in 2011 – the year before Peña Nieto took office – the state oil firm, Pemex, fired her as a manager for administrative negligence and violating procedure in assigning a large contact.
She was banned from the public sector for one year. Her consultancy firm’s biography describes her as an expert in drafting government contracts and bidding rules.
Additional reporting by Rory Carroll
Ya no existe...:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/mexico-first-lady-florida-property-government-contractor-documents-reveal).
Mexican first lady's Florida home owned by potential government contractor
Guardian investigation reveals Angelica Rivera is using $2.05m luxury apartment bought by Grupo Pierdant, a contender to run Mexico’s ports
José Luis Montenegro in Mexico City and Julio C Roa in Florida
@jl_montenegroj
Tuesday 9 August 2016 13.00
Mexico’s first lady is using a luxury property in Florida bought by a company that is expected to bid for lucrative government contracts, the Guardian has learned.
Angelica Rivera, the wife of President Enrique Peña Nieto, is using the $2.05m apartment in Key Biscayne, south of Miami Beach, with the apparent blessing of Grupo Pierdant, which is a contender to run Mexico’s ports.
The company has also paid the property tax on an additional Key Biscayne apartment bought by a holding company set up by Rivera.
The arrangements echo aspects of Rivera’s purchase of a $7m mansion in Mexico City from another government contractor, the so-called Casa Blanca (White House) scandal.
The first couple’s perceived conflict of interest with the government’s contracting process landed like a bombshell in 2014, wrecking Peña Nieto’s popularity and reformist credentials and reviving long-standing concerns about corruption in the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The Guardian’s investigation into the Florida properties reveals an unorthodox relationship between the first lady and Grupo Pierdant, centered on Ocean Tower One, a gated community with a pool, tennis courts and white glove concierge in Key Biscayne, an affluent enclave in Miami-Dade County.
Rivera, a former telenovela star, bought a three-bedroom unit, number 304, in 2005. She revealed its existence publicly in November 2014 in the wake of the Casa Blanca controversy, which put her finances under scrutiny. Rivera said she had lived in the Florida apartment for one year with her daughters. It is currently worth around $3.5m, according to Zillow.
However, she made no mention of Grupo Pierdant nor the company’s founder, Ricardo Pierdant, who has extensive business interests in Mexico and the United States.
In 2009 Pierdant bought unit 404 in Ocean Tower One through a company, Biscayne Ocean Holdings, apparently set up for that purpose.
Since then he appears to have let the first lady use the property as an addition to her other apartment, in effect allowing them to be managed as a single unit.
The properties share the same phone number. A woman who answered in Spanish, and identified herself only as Maria, said packages for Rivera could be sent to either property. “It’s the same,” she said.
In March 2014 Pierdant’s company deepened the link – and raised fresh questions – by paying property tax not only on unit 404 but also on 304, even though it is in Rivera’s name. The latter’s tax bill for that year was $29,703.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Paid in march 2014, for 2013 tax years.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Photograph: Handout
Pierdant’s establishment of Biscayne Ocean Holdings to acquire his unit mimicked that of Rivera, who registered her own company, UNIT 304 OTO INC, to acquire hers. Pierdant and Rivera are the sole directors and owners of each company.
The nexus between the two raises concern because one of the businessman’s other companies, Grupo Pierdant, is reportedly in the running for government contracts to develop Mexico’s maritime ports.
When the Guardian phoned Pierdant to ask about the properties he hung up without explanation. Peña Nieto’s office rebuffed a request for comment, saying no one was available to discuss the topic. The president’s office later rebuffed a second request by saying the first lady’s properties were a security matter.
Pierdant’s link to Mexico’s first couple will come as news to Americans who know him as the co-founder of DecoBikes, a bicycle-sharing program in Miami and San Diego.
The apparent conflict of interest between his other firm, Grupo Pierdant, and the first lady echoes that over the Casa Blanca, a modernist white mansion in Mexico’s capital with seven bedrooms, marble floors and a spa.
Outrage erupted in 2014 when it emerged Rivera was buying the mansion from Grupo Higa, a company associated with a Chinese-led consortium that won a $3.7bn government contract to build a high-speed rail link.
Rivera and her husband, who has ruled Mexico since 2012, denied any wrongdoing, saying she was paying for the house in installments from her own TV-made fortune.
However the first lady later returned the property and last month Peña Nieto apologized, saying the scandal had dented faith in the presidency and government. “For this reason, with all humility I ask your forgiveness,” he told political leaders. “I reiterate my sincere and profound apology for the offense and indignation I have caused you.”
The president made the apology as he signed into law an anti-corruption system that his PRI party hopes will boost its flagging credibility in the run-up to the 2018 presidential election.
Mexican journalist and Penguin sued in bid to ban sale of bombshell book
However, Carmen Aristegui, the journalist who broke the Casa Blanca story, has been fired from her radio show and is being sued, along with her publisher, in an effort to pull the exposé from bookstores.
Disclosure of the first lady’s property arrangement in Florida may cast a fresh shadow over a ruling party which became synonymous with corruption during the 20th century.
The properties at Ocean Tower One “the most the most upscale beach front condominium on the beautiful island of Key Biscayne,” according to a realtor’s blurb – are not the only connection between the administration and Pierdant.
In 2014 the state-run national hydrocarbons commission, which regulates hydrocarbon exploration, paid the equivalent of $61,500 to the businessman’s sister, Aurora Pierdant, a lawyer, for advice on energy law.
This was despite the fact that in 2011 – the year before Peña Nieto took office – the state oil firm, Pemex, fired her as a manager for administrative negligence and violating procedure in assigning a large contact.
She was banned from the public sector for one year. Her consultancy firm’s biography describes her as an expert in drafting government contracts and bidding rules.
Additional reporting by Rory Carroll
Ya no existe...:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/mexico-first-lady-florida-property-government-contractor-documents-reveal).
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