The lawyer of Peña Nieto used a web of shell companies in Mexico to collect money in Andorra

The companies sent the money to Pass between 2009 and 2012 through 12 transfers. The funds have come in to two accounts of the lawyer in Private Banking d'ando

The lawyer of Peña Nieto used a web of shell companies in Mexico to collect money in Andorra

The companies sent the money to Pass between 2009 and 2012 through 12 transfers. The funds have come in to two accounts of the lawyer in Private Banking d'andorra (BPA), a financial institution to which have resorted the groups under suspicion as the looters of the oil company PDVSA, or politicians who took bribes from the construction company, the brazilian Odebrecht, protagonist of the biggest plot corrupt of Latin america. The BPA offered to these clients, the confidentiality of Andorra, a country in Europe which remained until 2017 shielded by bank secrecy.

Hill was arrested in Mexico City on July 9, 2019. Is in prison awaiting trial for money laundering and organized crime. The lawyer used the small pyrenean principality -where he came to manage 24 accounts that moved $ 120 million— to collect “significant commissions” of companies that received awards from public competitions in Mexico, according to a confidential report of the Police of Andorra march 2017.

One of these companies was Varys Commercial, S. A. de C. V. The company has received at least one contract in September 2011 of the Technological University of Nezahualcóyotl (UTN), which depends on the State of Mexico —ruled then by Peña Nieto—, to acquire 53 computer brand Acer. The amount of the award was 846.985 pesos (about 67.500 dollars at the exchange rate then). The UTN was consulted about this case, but an assistant of the rector, Ivette Topete, told THE COUNTRY that they had “nothing to say about it”.

expand photo Report of the Police of Andorra march 2017 that analyzes the funds claimed Collado in the Private Banking d'andorra (BPA). THE COUNTRY

The contract signed with Varys Commercial appears on the web site of Transparency of the State of Mexico, ipomex.org. In the document, the company claimed as a tax domicile the office 27 in Montecito 38, inside the building of the World Trade Center of the mexican capital. The company shared the space with four other companies until he left the office “two or three years ago”. There are No more traces of Varys Commercial in the public record and trade in Mexico City, according to a search conducted by this newspaper. The society, apparently, has been legally liquidated.

Enterprisse Gamki, SA de C. V. awarded a contract in 2011 with the same university. The amount of the award, to fill the center of studies of electronic equipment, was 973.863 pesos (51.623 dollars). The company was created in June 2009 and had a short life. Not even fulfilled half a decade of operations. In spite of this, he sent resources to the accounts of Hill in Andorra.

even Though the transfers were made in 2011, before Enrique Peña Nieto became president, the scheme is similar to the plot of deviations introduced in the PRI Government between 2012 and 2018. The model, popularly known as The scam master, used contracts to shell companies with public universities to triangular public money. This exercise was used by secretaries of State and by the state-owned oil company, Pemex, to steal 7,000 million pesos from 2010 (371 million dollars at today's exchange rate). The Technological University of Nezahualcóyotl faces two lawsuits in the Prosecutor's office by other diversions of this type.

Address of one of the legal representatives of Enterprisse Gamki, at Teoloyucan, State of Mexico. Gladys Serrano

The address of the first legal guardian of Enterprisse Gamki, Cesar Tomas Escalona Rocha, is in Teoloyucan, State of Mexico, a small town 38 kilometres north of the capital. The address given to the notary who endorsed the society is located in a town of low class. The avenue Zumpango, where was the residence of the representative, is not paved. The path of earth and stones has been gaining ground to the fields, which can still be seen at the top of the hills. The houses, built with blocks of concrete and brick, are half-built and its walls are not flat. No neighbor there has heard of Escalona. Much less of a company of computer sales.

The address of Karina Hernández Lecona, another legal representative of Enterprisse Gamki, is located in an apartment within a small building of three levels in the municipality of Naucalpan, State of Mexico. The neighbors remembered Hernandez, who left to live there two years ago. His mother rent a room in a nearby house.

Enterprisse Gamki was liquidated in may of 2014 after the management of two of its representatives, Rafael Medina Núñez and Eduardo Benítez Palma. The managers shared before a notary to your home, according to documents obtained by THE COUNTRY. The residence is located on number 4 of calle Jilguero, in the municipality of Lerma, also in the State of Mexico. No one knows there the lawyers. The address, on top of a hill overlooking a green valley populated with humble homes, is a private residence where no one has heard of the graduates. “There lives a marriage,” says a neighbor while pointing to a elongated construction in which there is a beat-up PT Cruiser parked to one side.

The paper trail left by Enterprisse Gamki, which sent a commission to the accounts in Andorra Hill, also point to a couple of notaries public of the State of Mexico. The notary public 23, headed by Flor Alejandra Kiwan Altamirano, and the notary office 15, which was then in the possession of the now deceased Victor Manuel Lechuga Gil, endorsement procedures of the company. These notaries also made efforts for companies such as Sendetech SA de C. V., dedicated to the advertising; and Lilis Trading SA de C. V., formed for the trade of goods and products. These companies were liquidated by Medina Núñez Benítez Palma on the same day that Enterprisse Gamki.

The notaries 23 and 15 of the State of Mexico were consulted by this newspaper for his involvement in the alleged plot of money laundering. The law clerk Kiwan Altamirano responded to the request stating that it was “impossible legally” to respond to the questions that were not formulated by the authorities according to the laws of the State of Mexico. The notary office 15 did not respond to the request. Antonio Collado Mocelo, the lawyer in charge of the defense of his brother, Juan Ramón, was also consulted without obtaining a response.

expand photo Domicile of the liquidator of the company Enterprisse Gamki, in Lerma, State of Mexico. Gladys Serrano, The Country

The company Distributions GDB also paid $ 2.2 million to the advocate, although in this case the police says that it has no record of receiving any public contract.

The two firms, contractors, the mexican Government sent funds to the accounts in the Private Banking d'andorra (BPA) Hill tamwell were customers of this financial institution. The companies submitted the money to the lawyer from their own deposits. Resorted to do this to transfer internal. A method that removes the traces left by a transfer to international or national from another entity.

“we Believe that behind these fertilizers to alleged commissions to the accounts of the investigated open in the Principality of Andorra of mexican companies from various industries and economic sectors (construction, textiles, information technology), there would be a favoritism for the obtaining of public tenders”, collects the confidential report of the researchers dated in march 2017. The document was prepared by the Criminal Investigation Unit Specialized 2, which investigates money laundering.

The researchers andorran define Hill as one of lawyers ' most prestigious and influential” of Mexico and argue that the counsel of Peña Nieto served to his efforts of his “influence and position within the political field”.

The agents subtract credibility to the explanation that Hill gave to the judge of the andorran Canòlic Mingorance in July of 2016 to construct the lattice in tax havens. “The justification of preserving and the discretion of the heritage staff to prevent a possible kidnapping is not credible, because [Hill] is a public person and well known in their country,” said the researchers. Your report includes images of the mexican press where the attorney accompanies relevant political personalities of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) as the former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994).

Hill has in its portfolio of clients to the brother of the exmandatario, Raul Salinas, and the former president Peña Nieto. Also, he has defended such figures as the former governor of massa-pri in the State of Quintana Roo, Mario Villanueva Madrid, who has spent 18 years in prison accused of organized crime and money laundering. The lawyer was arrested while he was eating with another of their clients, the former leader of the union oil and exsenador of the PRI, Carlos Romero Deschamps, who is now investigated for corruption by the Administration of López Obrador.

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The ups and downs of the searches in Andorra

The investigation into Andorra for money laundering against the lawyer Juan Ramón Collado has been dotted with ups and downs. The journey from court to the legal representative kicked off in 2015. It was then when the authorities of the small pyrenean principality included the Private Banking d'andorra (BPA) for alleged irregularities and blocked 85,6 million that the mexican was managing 11 accounts at this financial institution.

The next chapter occurred in 2018. The Mexican Prosecutors –then under the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto - gave a respite to the lawyer of the power. Referred to the Justice of the micro-european State, reports that justify the origin of the funds of Hill. The authorities of Andorra were then forced to file provisionally the cause. The reason: The andorran Criminal Code prevents convicted of money laundering if you cannot prove the illicit origin of the money.

The arrest last July of a Hill in Mexico City under charges of money laundering, and organized crime gave a twist to the research in Andorra. The office of the prosecutor of the principality then requested the reopening of the proceedings and the seizure of $ 83.1 million that the attorney handled in the bank andorran Vallbanc on behalf of four holding companies. Result: the lawyer of the power is being investigated again in the country of the pyrenees for money laundering.

Date Of Update: 10 January 2020, 07:00
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