A Mexican mayor is facing allegations that she staged her own kidnapping so that she could embezzle around $2 million in public funds disguised as ransom money.Nancy Napoles, the municipal president of Tenancingo, a town a few hours from Mexico City, has denied the accusations, calling them politically motivated. She released a video on social media insisting on her innocence and describing the case as “politicized.”Napoles is a member of the ruling Morena party of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has made tackling corruption a central theme of her administration.Prosecutors say they are seeking testimony from Napoles on July 9 over a “simulation of a kidnapping”. No arrest warrant has been issued for her at this stage, although her husband and brother-in-law are both wanted and currently on the run.According to investigators, Napoles was forced from her vehicle at gunpoint by armed men. The case is partly based on statements from three suspects who have already been arrested. The group initially reported that kidnappers demanded “40 million pesos in exchange for her freedom,” roughly $2.3 million, and threatened to kill her and her family if the money was not paid.The ransom demand was a plan to disguise stolen public funds. Prosecutors claim that Napoles’ relatives suggested the money should be taken from local government resources if the ransom could not be raised. The plot began to unravel after a witness saw the mayor being taken and alerted police. That led investigators to question the circumstances of the so-called abduction and identify inconsistencies in the account.Authorities have also released images which they say show evidence of the staged kidnapping. They further say that Napoles’ husband and brother-in-law helped plan the scheme, using funds that were already embezzled and attempting to “create a justification for the money.”In a statement, the state prosecutor’s office Fiscalía Edoméx said, “The #FiscalíaEdoméx has detained three individuals identified as Karla Valeria ‘N,’ Víctor Manuel ‘N’ and Christian ‘N.’”It added, “it ‘has also requested a Hearing for the Formulation of Imputation against a municipal public servant and holds a valid judicial warrant for the capture of two additional males, all of them allegedly related to the ‘kidnapping’ of a female with initials N.N.P., who serves as the municipal president of #Tenancingo, events that occurred on May 31 of this year.“These individuals would have simulated the kidnapping of the president to obtain a payment of 40 million pesos in exchange for the ‘freedom of the victim.’”Napoles has rejected the allegations and said she is ready to cooperate with investigators. “the guilty actors are punished,” she said, adding that she would help clarify what happened.
