Arrest Warrant Reactivated for Javier Duarte’s Former Sister-in-Law Over Tax Fraud Allegation

A federal judge in Mexico has reactivated a 2019 arrest warrant for Mónica Ghihan Macías Tubilla, the former sister-in-law of imprisoned ex-Veracruz governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa. Prosecutors accuse her of tax fraud involving 3.5 million pesos.

Judicial records show that a judge at the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Coatzacoalcos restored the warrant after another federal judge removed it in February. Macías Tubilla then obtained a definitive injunction from Emma Cristina Carlos Ávalos, a district judge specializing in criminal matters in Mexico City. The order currently prevents the Attorney General’s Office from arresting her.

The judge granted the protection because the alleged offense does not carry mandatory pretrial detention. Macías Tubilla filed the constitutional challenge in June, and the Mexico City judge later declined to continue handling the case, saying jurisdiction belonged to a federal judge in Veracruz.

The Attorney General’s Office alleges that Macías Tubilla formed part of a network of nominees created by Duarte to buy properties in the United States with funds of illicit origin. Prosecutors identify her as the owner of properties at the Woodlands Country Club, an exclusive residential area in Houston, Texas.

In 2018, Mexico’s former federal attorney’s office handed Veracruz authorities four apartments registered to Macías Tubilla. She remains under investigation for an equivalent tax fraud offense under Mexico’s Federal Tax Code. Three years ago, a collegiate court denied her challenge to a decision rejecting the expiration of the prosecution’s authority in the case. Duarte is imprisoned in Mexico City’s Norte prison on embezzlement charges.