Former Tamaulipas governor Eugenio Hernández Flores will go to trial on new charges of unlawful enrichment and conducting financial operations with resources of illicit origin after a marathon 14-hour hearing yesterday.

The state Attorney General’s office now has three months to finish its investigation, including a background check on the ex-governor and a report on his real estate holdings in Mexico City and Quintana Roo.

It will also request a report from a Texas court that has been investigating the former governor as well.

According to the Attorney General’s office, Hernández amassed a fortune of nearly 41 million pesos (about US $3.3 million at the time) during his term as governor between 2005 and 2010.

Hernández, 58, declared before the court that he has been a businessman since 1987, involved in real estate, construction and shopping malls.

Hernández has been in custody since his arrest a year ago for embezzlement, a case which is still in process.

The former Institutional Revolutionary Party governor also faces extradition to the United States where he faces charges of organized crime and money laundering. The Mexican government authorized his extradition in March but Hernández’s legal team has applied for an injunction, or amparo, against it.

That legal team includes the attorney for ex-Quintana Roo governor Roberto Borge, also in jail facing corruption charges, and the attorney who has defended the presumed leader of Mexico City’s Unión de Tepito, a gang that is believed responsible for much of the violence in the capital.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp)