MEXICO CITY _ An ex-Mexican governor accused of embezzling possibly billions of dollars while in office has struck a deal with prosecutors that will land him nine years in prison.
Javier Duarte, a onetime rising star of Mexico's ruling party and the former governor of Veracruz state, was charged last year with setting up shell companies to divert public money and for having links to the criminal gangs that have made Veracruz one of the most violent regions of the country. He faced up to 55 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Instead, Duarte pleaded guilty to two charges Wednesday _ money laundering and criminal association _ in exchange for the lighter sentence.
Along with prison time, Duarte must pay about $3,000 and give up 41 properties that he allegedly purchased with illicit money.
Many Mexicans complained that the sentence was not harsh enough.
"It is a mockery," tweeted Martha Tagle, a federal deputy for the Convergence for Democracy party.
"With sentences like this, instead of inhibiting corruption, you are encouraging it," tweeted political analyst Jose Antonio Crespo.
Duarte left office in 2016, six weeks before his gubernatorial term was to end. He vowed to defend himself against the mounting allegations, insisting that he had not stolen "one cent."
Instead, Duarte went on the run. He was captured last April in a mountain resort in Guatemala.
Authorities had said Duarte's theft of public funds reached "historic" levels, perhaps in excess of $3 billion. He was ultimately charged with stealing millions of dollars in public money.
Duarte, who was once seen as one of the most promising young members of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was expelled from the party in 2016. Still, corruption charges against him and other ex-governors who belonged to the PRI helped turn public opinion against the party. The PRI's candidate in this year's presidential election, Jose Antonio Meade, came in third place.
The winner of the election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, ran on an anti-corruption platform and vowed to root out billions of dollars in annual corruption and use the money to pay for the creation of social programs for the elderly, the sick and for students.
Lopez Obrador has said he will lead by example in order to change Mexico's culture of corruption, but critics say that may not be enough in a place where bribe-paying is regarded as a fact of life.
