The president and co-owner of Miss Universe, Raul Rocha, denied on Monday the accusations of fraud that have circulated about the victory of the Mexican Fátima Bosch in the beauty pageant, and announced legal actions against the media that have spread information that he considers defamatory.
Through Instagram, the Mexican published a statement in which he explains his business dealings with his country’s state-owned oil company, Pemex, a link that has fueled accusations of alleged fraud in view of the fact that the father of the new Miss Universe, Bernardo Bosch Hernández, is part of the energy company’s board of directors.
Rocha assured that the firm Soluciones Gasíferas del Sur, owned by him, signed in February 2023 an 11-month contract with Pemex for close to US$40 million, after winning a bidding process called by the Exploration and Production area, in which Bosch Hernández was then acting as executive coordinator.
As the state-owned company did in a statement, the Mexican denied any current relationship with Pemex and said it acquired 50% of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) in January 2024, almost a year after signing the contract with Pemex.
Pemex said in a statement on Sunday that “it has no interference with the directors of the Miss Universe international pageant and that the publication of congratulations to Fátima Bosch Fernández (through social networks) was made in the context of the popular enthusiasm for her triumph”.
Miss Universe was ‘legal’ according to what Raul Rocha said
In addition, Rocha says she met the Bosch family in September 2025. “Therefore, it is completely false and impossible that there is a relationship between the award of this contract and the triumph of said contestant,” Buzzy crowned Friday in Bangkok.
“Unfortunately, there are media outlets that seek to generate political controversy and obtain benefits in an opportunistic and individualistic manner through the manipulation of information, disseminating inaccurate data to take advantage of the MUO’s success,” Rocha’s brief continues.
For this reason, he announced that “the corresponding legal actions will be initiated against the media that have spread false assertions”, without specifying which ones, which adds to other possible lawsuits announced by the businessman in the last three weeks, when the beauty pageant was full of controversy.
The credibility of the competition’s outcome had already been called into question on Tuesday, when French-Lebanese pianist Omar Harfouch reported his resignation as a judge of the competition, alleging lack of transparency and an alleged “secret ballot” in which the 30 qualifiers were chosen without jury evaluation.
The artist also announced his intention to sue the MUO for alleged crimes such as abuse of power, corruption, deceit, breach of contract and conflict of interest and has called Bosch “a Miss Universe of lies”.
Harfouch claims that, in an interview recorded 24 hours before the coronation and to be broadcast next year, he declared that Mexico would be the winner because Rocha has “business dealings” with Bosch’s father, reported Agencia EFE.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
