Former Minister Rosario Robles is taken into custody

A Mexican judge ordered former minister Rosario Robles to be taken into custody pending criminal proceedings in a case involving a massive fraud and bound Rosario Robles over for trial for the improper exercise of public service .

The judge granted the Attorney General's Office two months to carry out an investigation .

For over two years, Robles was the Social Development Minister in the Peña Nieto administration and has appeared in court over prosecutors’ claims that over MXN $5 billion destined for welfare programs under her tenure were unaccounted for.

A lawyer for Robles said on local television that the politician and her team will fight the accusations.

On Friday, President López Obrador said that a former cabinet minister who had been questioned over an alleged MXN $5 billion loss to taxpayers under the previous government was the only official being investigated in the case so far.

Robles is one of several officials from Peña Nieto's administratio n being investigated for corruption .

A 2 017 investigation by Mexican news site Animal Politico and nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity found more than 50 officials participated in the so-called " Master Fraud " that funneled public funds into various shell companies .

It found that federal auditors had detected irregularities worth millions of dollars in the accounts of ministries run by Robles , who later served as the minister for Agrarian, Land and Urban Development in Peña Nieto's government .

In January, the Public Administration Ministry said that three Pemex officials took part in the " Master Fraud ," as the case is now widely known, and their cases would be investigated.

Rosario Robles is accused of deviation of public resources

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