墨西哥总统陷入"私宅所有者"风波

President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico was caught in a fresh storm on Sunday over claims that his personal residence is owned by a company linked to a Mexican member of the Chinese-led consortium that won a high-speed rail contract last week – only to be stripped of it days later.

周日，墨西哥总统恩里克•培尼亚•涅托(Enrique Peña Nieto)陷入了一场新的风波，有指控称，他的私人住宅的所有者公司与中国领衔的中标联合体中的某家墨西哥公司有关联。该投标联合体上周赢得了一项墨西哥的高铁合同，但几天之后该合同被取消。

The allegations, based on documents seen by the Financial Times and reported on the Aristegui Noticias news website, added fuel to protests over the disappearance of 43 students, who were arrested by police and are now feared dead.

这些指控基于英国《金融时报》看到的文件和新闻网站Aristegui Noticias报道的内容。这一指控助推了因43名学生消失事件引发的抗议活动。这些学生被警察逮捕，现在恐怕已经死去了。

The presidency said in a statement that the first lady, Angélica Rivera, had signed a contract with Ingeniería Inmobiliaria del Centro (IIC), a company owned by the businessman Juan Armando Hinojosa, in January 2012, to purchase two properties. The properties, adjacent to one she already owned, were originally bought by IIC, and the family’s residence was built on the land they once occupied.

总统办公室发表声明称，第一夫人安杰莉卡•里韦拉(Angélica Rivera)于2012年与Ingeniería Inmobiliaria del Centro(IIC)签订合同购买其两处房产。IIC的所有人是商人Juan Armando Hinojosa。这两处房产靠近她本来拥有的一处房产，最初是由IIC购买的，总统私宅就建在这两处房产曾占据的土地上。

But the presidency did not deny that the house had been built by a company owned by Mr Hinojosa at a time when his Grupo Higa was a contractor of the State of Mexico and Mr Peña Nieto was state governor.

但总统办公室没有否认，总统私宅的施工者是Hinojosa的Grupo Higa公司，施工时Grupo Higa是墨西哥州的一家承包商，而培尼亚•涅托是该州州长。

Grupo Higa owns Constructora Teya, a company that was part of the Chinese-led rail consortium that won a $3.6bn contract which was scrapped by the president last Thursday after an outcry over the bidding process.

Grupo Higa下属的Constructora Teya，则是中国领衔的投标联合体的一员。该联合体赢得了一份36亿美元的合同，但因为招标过程引发抗议，该合同于上周四被总统取消。

Grupo Higa, which won about 8bn pesos ($590m) in public works contracts in the State of Mexico, could not be reached for comment.

记者未能联系到Grupo Higa置评。

IIC was constituted on November 13 2008, the day after Mr Peña Nieto acknowledged his relationship with Ms Rivera on a television show.

IIC成立于2008年11月13日，此前一天培尼亚•涅托在一次电视节目上承认了他与里韦拉的关系。

In January 2012, Ms Rivera, a former soap star, paid for part of the property with a personal cheque, said the presidency statement. She had been paying the balance regularly, most recently in October, and the property would be transferred to her name when she had paid it off, it added. She initially paid 30 per cent of the list price.

总统办公室称，2012年1月，前肥皂剧明里韦拉用个人支票支付部分房款。总统办公室补充称，里韦拉一直在定期缴纳尾款，最近一次是今年10月份，一旦房款付清，该房产就会转入里韦拉名下。里韦拉曾支付了该房屋30%的首付。

Eduardo Sánchez, a presidential spokesman, did not immediately respond to questions from the FT about when the property was built. According to Aristegui Noticias, the start of building work was registered on July 7 2010, while Mr Peña Nieto was still governor, and was officially completed in August 2012 when he had already won the presidential election. The architectural website Archdaily says the property dates from 2011.

总统发言人Eduardo Sánchez并没有立刻回答英国《金融时报》记者的问题——该房屋是何时建造的。据Aristegui Noticias报道，房屋于2010年7月开始动工，当时培尼亚•涅托还是州长。房屋于2012年8月完工，此时涅托已经当选墨西哥总统。建筑网站Archdaily 显示，该房产的建造则追溯到2011年。

The allegations surfaced as Mr Peña Nieto flew to China to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, and threatened to overshadow the trip. Beijing said it was “surprised” by the decision to cancel the contract.

在培尼亚•涅托飞往中国参加亚太经合组织(APEC)论坛那时，上述指控浮出水面，给他的行程蒙上了阴影。北京方面表示，对墨西哥政府决定取消招标结果“感到意外”。