After a recent story published in the Wall Street Journal reported that Mexico’s finance minister Luis Videgaray bought his luxury home from a construction firm whose parent company had won large public contracts, the so-called “viceroy” to President Enrique Peña Nieto has announced on national television that, although he is willing to submit to an independent investigation to probe the methods by which he acquired his home, he will neither sell his home nor will he step down from his position.

Property records show that finance minister Videgaray purchased the house from Bienes Raíces H&G SA, the firm owned by Juan Armando Hinojosa, a man whose companies have been awarded hundreds of multi-million dollar contracts for public-works projects while Peña Nieto was governor of the State of Mexico and during his current administration.

When asked by a radio interviewer if he would sell, Videgaray said, as quoted in The Financial Times, “No, definitely not. ...  I have no interest in selling an asset that is very important for me and my family and which, I insist, I bought absolutely legally.”

Videgaray is not accused of anything that's actually illegal, but the financial transaction he participated in adds to the appearance of conflicts of interest that have damaged President Peña Nieto’s credibility, who, as a candidate coming to office, promised a change from the allegations of insider dealings that have haunted his ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in the past.

Last month, Peña Nieto’s wife, Angélica Rivera, a former telenovela star, announced she would sell a $7 million house that she had bought from the Juan Armando Hinojosa-owned company and made a similar televised appearance explaining the source of her income.

According to BBC’s Mexico correspondent Will Grant, despite no apparent illegalities, there are some uncomfortable questions heading for the Mexican government and for Videgaray, such as why the finance minister chose to finance his property through a minor mortgage lender belonging to Juan Armando Hinojosa rather than use a major Mexican financial institution.

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