Two years into the CFE-Whitewater case: how a former official accused of corruption has delayed his judicial process

The case of alleged corruption between American company Whitewater Midstream and former officials of the Mexican utility, Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), was taken to court almost two years ago, though has seen little progress. The initial hearing in which former CFE official Javier Gutiérrez must appear has been postponed five times — based on arguments presented by his lawyers and due to a workers’ strike in the Judiciary last year — and is now scheduled for January 25.

A story by EL PAÍS first exposed ties between former CFE official Guillermo Turrent, his colleague Javier Gutiérrez, and executives of the Texas-based natural gas company Whitewater Midstream. After publication, in 2022, CFE accused Turrent and Gutiérrez of “rampant corruption, cronyism, and conflicts of interest” by awarding the company multimillion-dollar contracts through a “sham” open tender, according to documents that are part of an open case in the United States. The Mexican Government also opened an investigation in Mexico and brought a case against Gutiérrez to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Corruption, for which an initial hearing was scheduled in May 23 of that year.

CFE lawyers in the US have expressed disappointment that the hearing in Mexico has not yet taken place, according to a public case document. “That is because… Defendant Gutiérrez has repeatedly sought and obtained adjournments,” reads the document presented before a court in Texas obtained by EL PAÍS.

According to a recap of the events by CFE lawyers that was filed in Texas, the Prosecutor’s Office in Mexico initially set the hearing for May 23, 2022, but Gutiérrez’s lawyer requested an extension to grant more time to review the investigation file, and the judge postponed the hearing to August. When that date arrived, Gutiérrez’s lawyer requested another postponement, this time stating that additional evidence was needed from prosecutors. The court then pushed the hearing back until October 26, 2022 and warned Gutiérrez not to request further extensions. However, two days before that date, Gutiérrez’s lawyer requested a third postponement, this time saying that the defendant could not attend the hearing due to a “medical emergency.”

Later, Gutiérrez requested a hearing to annul procedural acts, which was adjourned by the Federal Criminal Justice Center on three occasions, his lawyer José Luis Nassar told EL PAIS in a written message. When the initial hearing finally took place in June 2023, Gutiérrez argued that his right to consular assistance had been violated “on the basis that in addition to being Mexican, (he) has Spanish and American nationalities,” says a memo from the Prosecutor’s Office to which EL PAÍS had access. The judge did not annul the process but ordered the Prosecutor’s Office to remedy this issue, which caused another delay.

In October, many Prosecutor’s Office hearings were postponed when the Judiciary went on strike, including Gutiérrez’s, which was delayed twice more and is now expected to take place on January 25. Another former CFE official, José Guadalupe Valdez, is also part of the case in Mexico and must attend the hearing. Valdez, however, has not been accused by CFE in the United States.

Nassar maintains that the delays are “not for reasons attributable to Javier Gutiérrez’s defense.” “It is the intention of Mr. Gutiérrez and his team of lawyers to appear before the authorities on January 25, 2024 and demonstrate his complete innocence,” the lawyer told EL PAIS.

In Texas, a judge ordered that both Gutiérrez and Turrent are to face a jury trial, which is expected in mid-2025. Mexico will hold elections in June of this year and a new president will take power in October, meaning that a new team could be appointed within CFE. According to official documents from the courts in Texas, CFE lawyers have managed to obtain information from the companies involved in the case, such as correspondence and financial information, which is moving the process in the United States forward. On the Mexican side, the authorities who announced in 2021 that an investigation was opened against Turrent have not reported their findings.

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