This year’s edition of Miss Universe, with onstage injuries, dramatic walkouts and allegations of vote rigging, was already one for the ages.
But it turns out the drama was just beginning: Just days after Fatima Bosch was crowned Miss Universe in Thailand, both of the organization’s co-owners are facing arrest warrants.
On Wednesday, Mexican media revealed that Mexican businessman Raul Rocha Cantu, who owns half of the Miss Universe Organization, was under investigation for drug, gun and fuel trafficking between Guatemala and Mexico.
Rocha, whose conglomerate spans industry, casinos and beauty pageants, has denied wrongdoing. When asked by El País about the case, he said: “It is completely false that I have an arrest warrant.”
The Attorney General’s Office later confirmed the existence of the investigation and said that arrest orders had been issued for 13 people, among them “Raul R., about whom there were various public reports”.
The other half of the Miss Universe Organization is owned by Thai media mogul Jakkaphong Jakarjutatip, for whom an arrest warrant was also issued by a Thai court this week.
Jakkaphong has been accused of fraud by a plastic surgeon who says he withheld information while convincing them to invest in his company, JKN Global Group.
The case was scheduled to be adjudicated on Tuesday, but Jakkaphong failed to appear in court, prompting the judge to order her arrest considering her a flight risk. His whereabouts are unclear.
They were the latest twist in a fantastically dramatic version of the Miss Universe pageant.
In early November Bosch – then Miss Mexico – went viral when she walked out after being scolded as “dumb” by the pageant’s director, who fired her for failing to post promotional materials.
Following a public outcry, the director tearfully apologized and claimed he had been misunderstood, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum described Bosch as “an example of how we women should speak”.
Bosch won the crown, defeating crowd favorite Miss Thailand – only for her victory to be overshadowed by allegations of vote rigging.
A few days before the final, two of the eight judges stepped down, while one suggested that the vote was rigged. The other cited “unforeseen personal reasons”.
Mexican media have also reported on business ties between Rocha and Pemex, the Mexican state oil company where Bosch’s father worked for decades, leading Rocha and Bosch’s father to deny that they personally have any business ties.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum again came to Bosch’s defense. “(Any investigation of Rocha) is independent of the young woman who won the contest. They want to connect them, but they are separate. They want to diminish her accomplishment.”
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