Mexico Candidate Calderon Denies Aiding Relative's Company

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico Candidate Calderon Denies Aiding Relative's Company

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Felipe Calderon, the Mexican presidential candidate from President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, denied allegations he helped a relative's company win government contracts.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the candidate from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, said during a June 6 nationally televised debate that Hildebrando SA, a computer systems company owned by Calderon's brother-in-law, Diego Zavala, won contracts from state-owned companies while Calderon was energy minister.

``What they call a political accusation is seen by this campaign and without a doubt by millions of Mexicans as an outrage and another lie,'' Josefina Vazquez, director of Calderon's campaign, said at a news conference today in Mexico City.

Lopez Obrador alleged the company didn't pay taxes on 2.5 billion pesos ($221 million) of revenue from the contracts. Vazquez said Lopez Obrador should present documents to authorities to back up his accusations. Calderon was energy minister under Fox from September 2003 to May 2004.

In a news conference yesterday, Claudia Sheinbaum, a spokeswoman for Lopez Obrador, showed documents on tax reports from the company and more than a dozen related companies, as well as copies of contract notifications from a federal government Web site.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aN.SnN5Pc6S4&refer=latin_america