PRESIDENT ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO´S decision to expose himself, his wife and his finance minister to an investigation over conflict-of-interest allegations has unfortunately got off to a bungled start. The government minister appointed to lead the probe said on February 4th the he was unable to investigate the mortgage contracts that are at the centre of the scandal, raising questions about the seriousness of his endeavour.



In recent months Mr Peña has been dogged by allegations that he and his wife, as well as Luis Videgaray, the finance minister, brought homes on credit from affiliates of a construction firm that has won numerous government contracts. The three deny any wrongdoing. But the mortgage contracts have not been made public, and Mr Peña acknowledged when announcing the investigation on February 3rd that there were suspicions of wrongdoing that he wanted to allay.



Virgilio Andrade, whom he named as minister of public administration and charged with heading the investigation, said a day later that his agency did not have the authority to investigate the mortgage contracts or the three individuals because they were out of office when the deals were done. His only focus was on the probity of later government contracts granted to the construction firm, Grupo Higa.



Some accused Mr Peña of acting cynically in announcing with much fanfare an investigation that he must have known would be limited in scope. It is also widely noted that Mr Andrade owes his job to Mr Peña, and says he is a personal friend of Mr Videgaray, which raises questions about his independence. Government officials say Mr Andrade may be able to call on other more autonomous institutions of government, such as the auditor general or a soon-to-be-created anti-corruption agency, to expand the investigation. A panel of experts will check the results. But Mr Peña’s anti-corruption drive, a belated bid to address his plunging popularity, has started on the wrong foot.