Mexican steel tycoon Alonso Ancira Elizondo on Tuesday agreed to pay US$219 million in damages to state oil company PEMEX to avoid trial for money laundering and corruption.

Authorities in Mexico have reportedly arrested a former public official accused of embezzling more than US$1 million from the country’s corruption-riddled state-owned oil company.

A Mexican general indicted for abetting billions of dollars in oil theft from the state-run petroleum company Pemex has, not for the first time, failed to appear at his own court hearing the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Mexico’s Finance Ministry announced on Monday that it had frozen the bank accounts of Emilio Lozoya Austin, the former head of the state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), due to allegations of corruption.