Panama extradites ex-Mexico governor wanted for alleged graft

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January 4, 2018 5:26 PM

Panama on Thursday extradited a former Mexican state governor, Roberto Borge, to face charges at home of alleged graft, the Central American countrys foreign ministry said.

"The government of the Republic of Panama has today (Thursday) completed the extradition of Mexican citizen Roberto Borge Angulo to the United States of Mexico," the ministry said in a statement.

It added that he had undergone medical examinations to guarantee his health was "stable" for the transfer.

He was handed over to Mexican agents in a hangar in Panama's Tocumen international airport after being brought there in a bus from where he had been kept at police headquarters. Mexico dispatched a government plane to fly him out.

Borge, 38, had exhausted legal efforts in Panama to slow the extradition process as he was kept in custody. He was arrested June 4 in Panama when he tried to board a flight to Paris.

The Panamanian government on December 14 gave final approval to his extradition, three days after the Supreme Court dismissed his final appeal.

He is accused in Mexico of selling state-owned real estate at one percent of its market value. The charges against him include corruption, fraud, money laundering and involvement in organized crime.

He governed Quintana Roo, which features many of Mexico's most famous Caribbean beaches, from 2011 to 2016 for Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The party, which has governed Mexico for 77 of the past 89 years, has been mired in a series of corruption scandals involving its governors, seven of whom are in jail in Mexico or elsewhere.

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