Mexican union boss embezzled to pay for plastic surgery
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
MEXICO CITY (AFP) - The head of Mexico's teachers' union and one of the country's most powerful women has been charged with embezzling up to US$200 million (S$250 million) to fund a lavish lifestyle of shopping sprees and plastic surgery, officials said.
Elba Esther Gordillo, who wielded enormous political clout and was entrusted with union funds, was arrested Tuesday at the Toluca airport some 60km west of the Mexican capital.
Attorney General Jose Murillo Karam told reporters that she was arrested after the Finance Ministry detected unusual transactions in union bank accounts.
An audit found withdrawals of some two billion pesos (S$194 million) from two accounts belonging to the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE), as well as multi-million peso purchases on a credit card in her name.
