Image source, EPA
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- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
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The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, criticized the United States on Thursday for the accusation against three Mexican financial institutions sanctioned by Washington of course money laundering related to drug trafficking.
In his morning press conference, Sheinbaum said that a few weeks ago his government received a “confidential report” from US authorities in relation to suspicions against Cibanco, Intercam and La Bolsa Vector Banks.
But the president said that she never received the evidence, so she rejected the announcement made on Wednesday by the US Department of the Treasury, which partially sanctioned these three Mexican financial institutions for allegedly facilitating the buying of fentanyl precursors in China and washing money from drug trafficking
“We are not going to cover anyone. There is no impunity, but it has to be demonstrated that, in effect, there was money laundering. Not with sayings, but with forceful evidence,” Sheinbaum demanded.
“We coordinate, we collaborate, but we do not subordinate. Mexico is a great country and the relationship with the US is equal, not subordination. We are not a piñata of anyone, Mexico is respected,” he finished.
The president added that an investigation by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) detected irregularities in procedures, but not links with money laundering, as stated by the US Treasury.
The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) announced the intervention of the two banks with the aim of renewing their management, investigating what happened and protecting the public's assets.
Cibanco, Intercam and Vector rejected the accusations and assured that the assets of their customers are protected.
Many doubts, a certainty
Analysis of Daniel Pardo, BBC World correspondent in Mexico
The sanctions leave several open questions.
First, several experts have stressed that if these are financial entities that travel with the narco, some US banks should also be sanctioned. Why, then, choose those three?
That generates a second interpretation about the political content of the sanction: is it a message for former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), colleague and friend of one of the affected entrepreneurs? Or also: Is it another Trump movement to press Mexico in the fight against organized crime?
And other questions: is this marked a precedent? Will they be the largest Mexican banks, whose owners are in New York or London, also sanctioned? What effect will this pressure have on the already fragile Mexican economy?
At least there is a certainty: the money that arises from illegal drug trafficking is huge. In Mexico alone, some estimate it in more than US $ 150,000 million a year, not counting what is generated due to extortion, smuggling and robbery, in addition to washing in legal investments.
And the leaders of both countries know it.
The extension of organized crime is huge, structural, and the question is which of its branches is the one that is chosen to attack.
Image source, Reuters
The US accusation
On Wednesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned Cibanco, Intercam and Vector for considering “main sources of concern in money laundering in relation to illicit opioid traffic” and, consequently, prohibited certain transfers of funds that involve these institutions.
“(These institutions) have played a key and prolonged role in the washing of millions of dollars in the name of the headquarters in Mexico and in the facilitation of payments for the acquisition of chemical precursors necessary for the production of fentanyl,” said the treasure in a statement.
He explained that the two banks and La Casa de Bolsa carried out financial operations for the posters of Sinaloa, the Gulf and Jalisco Nueva Generación in relation to the importation of chemical precursors for the manufacture of fentanyl, a powerful drug that has generated high number of deaths among consumers in the United States.
The sanction prohibits the transfers of funds from and from the two banks and the stock market after 21 days since its publication in the Federal Registry of the USA.
The two banks and the stock market are institutions considered medium in the Mexican financial system.
The founder of Vector, Alfonso Romo, was head of the Office of the Presidency between 2018 and 2020 in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), which has generated accusations against the ruling party after the announcement of the Treasury.
Sheinbaum is a continuator of AMLO's policies in the presidency.
Luis Manuel Pérez de Acha, lawyer and expert in money laundering in Mexico City, told Reuters that the accusations are a “bomb.”
“The entire financial system passes through the United States, so practically (the three institutions) run out of operations,” he said.
Image source, EPA
Mexico's response
On Wednesday afternoon, the Mexican Treasury Ministry reported in a statement that it was aware of the suspicions of the treasure, but that “no probative data was received about it.”
“If you have overwhelming information that you try illegal activities of these three financial institutions, we will act with all the weight of the law. However, to date we do not have any information in that regard,” he added.
An investment of the SHCP and the FIU did detected administrative failures of these banks and issued sanctions, but not related to money laundering. Hacienda said that some 300 Mexican companies marketed with the Chinese companies indicated by the US through ten Mexican financial institutions, without any anomalies.
President Sheinbaum said it is everyday that Mexico and China have thousands of financial operations and resource transfers, since both countries have a high commercial volume.
“Most of the information was transfers made to these banking institutions of Chinese companies with Mexican companies. Chinese companies are legally constituted,” he said.
“It is not money laundering test. It is a transfers test, such as thousands that are made every day between Chinese and Mexican companies, because there is a trade of US $ 139,000 million,” he added.
Therefore, he said that he demanded the respect of the United States by issuing this type of accusations.
“If there is evidence, it acts. There is no impunity, no matter who it is. But if there is no evidence, you cannot act. As in any crime. Until now, the Treasury Department has not sent any evidence that indicates that there is money laundering.”
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