Amado Yanez has been under police supervision whilerecovering in a hospital from surgery, but has now been formally charged.

Mexico took control of Oceanografia in February afterCitigroup said it lost $400m on loans granted to the company based onfraudulent invoices.

Oceanografia was also banned from bidding forgovernment contracts for 21 months after allegedly violating agreements with stateoil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) from which it had gained 97% of itsrevenues.