Mexico City: Mexico`s scandal-scarred government faced a new uproar on Wednesday after a senior official used one of his agency`s helicopters to take his family to the airport.
David Korenfeld, the director of the National Water Commission (Conagua), apologized after a picture emerged of him and his family hopping inside the chopper, luggage in hand, at a heliport in the central State of Mexico.
"I committed an inexcusable mistake by using a Conagua helicopter to go to the AICM (Mexico City airport). For this, I offer a public apology," Korenfeld wrote on Twitter.
Korenfeld, whose agency monitors the country`s water system as well as hurricanes, said he had begun to pay back the government for the cost of using the aircraft.
In a tweet immediately before his apology, the 41-year-old official said he had aggravated hip and knee injuries, and he posted a picture showing a brace on his left leg. He did not explain whether the leg injury was related to his chopper use.
His use of the helicopter caused a social media frenzy, with some people calling for his resignation.
One Twitter user posted a picture of a James Bond fight scene on a flying helicopter that was recently filmed for the new 007 movie in Mexico City, with the caption "Get down from the helicopter David, it`s not yours!"
It was the latest scandal to hit President Enrique Pena Nieto`s administration.
Pena Nieto has come under fire over his wife`s purchase of a mansion from a government contractor. His finance minister also bought a house from the same contractor, which has won lucrative government projects.
In 2013, the head of the consumer protection prosecutor`s office was sacked by Pena Nieto after the official`s daughter tried to get her father`s agency to close a restaurant because it refused to give her the table she wanted.