The structuring of a network of 22 companies, in which five lawyers and 18 close associates of the presidential family participate, which are nourished by establishing businesses with public institutions, reveals a “mafia state to accumulate wealth” of this group, considers the economist and former opposition deputy Enrique Sáenz.
The analyst commented on the findings of an investigation, carried out by CONFIDENTIAL, based on documents from the Mercantile Registry and also on a database from the Nicaraguan Institute of Social Security (INSS) that allows first-hand corroboration of the participation of those close to the presidential family in the business group.
In addition to the network ‘per se’, the investigation shows the irregular handling of State concessions in the case of the Nicaraguan Oil Distributor (DNP), Channel 6 and the concession granted to the Xinwei company, owned by Chinese businessman Wang Jing. , of which a lawyer for the president, José María Enríquez Moncada, is a partner of 30% of the shares.
“To put front men they need people of the most absolute trust,” says Sáenz in an interview with the director of the program This weekCarlos Fernando Chamorro, on the main findings of the report.
Why does this concealment scheme occur?
In the first place (it is) to try to maintain in front of its base the idea that the family in power continues to evoke the postulates of the revolution—for those who still believe that—and the same at the international level. But obviously it is an extremely difficult exercise, because I recognize the investigative work that they have done (in CONFIDENTIAL) under conditions in which the Public Registry of Property —it is called that so that it is exposed to the knowledge of society in Nicaragua— is a clandestine registry.
But there are legal representatives at the head of the companies that appear as shareholders. There are about 18 people and in particular a group of five who repeat as partners in the most important companies: Yadira Leets, José María Enríquez, José Mojica, Mayling Alegría, Eduardo Morales, would this be a delegated directive in the companies of the Ortega Murillo ?
To use the language that we Nicaraguans understand: That is called figureheads and to put figureheads they need people of the utmost trust. In other words, they are not going to go away with the properties as has happened on other occasions.
One of the most important companies is DNP-Petronic, a network of gas stations, which the Ortega government originally proposed would be recovered for the State of Nicaragua. How come it turned out to be acquired with funds from the Venezuelan state cooperation and now is under the control of the presidential family?
DNP is one of the emblematic examples of how the family in power has appropriated the instruments of the State to accumulate personal wealth. Indeed it is a mystery how (that happened with) a public company. I remember the statements of the Attorney General of the time, Hernán Estrada, making a fuss that part of the public heritage had been claimed and that all Nicaraguans should feel proud, because a concession had been made to a foreign company to make the DNP business profitable. . Consequently, this is a clear example of how a public company becomes private equity with impunity. By the way, one of the most lucrative businesses of the family in power.
The origin of the capital with which these 22 companies and possibly others that are not in sight have been formed, seems to have two links: the Venezuelan state cooperation and the diversion of these funds, and the other with State contracts to finance their operations as happens with most television channels, is there any safeguard in the law to prevent this confusion between what is public and what is private?
Here we are facing a typical case of what is known internationally as a mafia state, that is, a mafia that seizes all the instruments of the state to benefit. This has another correlate, which is impunity, and this could not take hold if, for example, the Judiciary did not have a clandestine Property Registry. It could not develop if the Comptroller’s Office fulfilled its function, if the National Assembly fulfilled its function of political control, if the Attorney General’s Office effectively fulfilled its function. So, all these organs of the State operate based on the illicit enrichment in the first place of the family in power, but also with the circle of close associates. Regardless of what the law says, those who are in charge of applying it are the first to violate it.
One of the findings of this investigation is that the Xinwei telecommunications company, which is a Chinese company that operates in Nicaragua, is integrated into its shareholder base by the lawyer José María Enríquez, who is also linked to private (television) channels. of the television of the Ortega Murillo, what can be interpreted of the nature of this Chinese company where a Nicaraguan partner appears?
This man (Enríquez) has been mentioned repeatedly, but documents have also been shown that (indicate) he is one of the most trusted people for this type of operation: first as a lawyer, because he appears in some deeds as the notary, in others like a figurehead. I understand that even a son is involved in this type of operation. He is on a mission, but obviously he is not the owner—or the owners of that 30% (of Xinwei shares)—.
Could it be investigated if behind that shareholding representation there are other types of interests? Wang Jing was granted Law 840 for the supposed development of the interoceanic canal, he was also given concessions for Xinwei, and now this shareholding appears…
Venezuelan oil cooperation is the root of this entire conglomerate. Anyone can see if they search for it on the Central Bank’s website that what was appropriated —it was not a diversion— was more than 5,000 million dollars. And a gigantic sum in the face of an economy that is the size of Nicaragua’s has to be made profitable in some way. One way is association with international and national companies. Precisely, part of a pending investigation has to do with who is the owner of the hydrocarbon storage facility where the Bolívar Supreme Sueño refinery was going to be. According to BCN data, more than 500 million dollars were invested there.
Who is the owner of the company that has the largest generation capacity in the country, Alba Generación? For example, the Corporate Bank (BanCorp) appeared tucked under the table, which, in trust contracts, Caruna had the equivalent of 2.5 billion dollars in a 2017 audit. In another 2018 audit, in a situation in which all the companies were in crisis, the amount of these trusts rose to 2.73 billion dollars.
In other words, that capital is there, it needs to be made profitable. Another thing is that at some point we will find complaints about how that capital is seeking to penetrate established companies and how to coerce businessmen to sell their shares to become part of these companies. But hey, that’s yet to come. What is at this moment is that capital in the case of BanCorp and Caruna; the case of the refinery or this storage plant, and this type of operation.
There is a private company called NEPISA that appears to be related to members of the presidential family and represents a state entity, Channel 6. What is your opinion on that?
That’s the flip side I mentioned in passing. DNP is a type of operation. A public company that by a magical mechanism appears as private. But then there are the State purchases from the public budget, the contracts, also in this case in the area of communication. There are also known cases of the purchase of medicines, school supplies in the case of the Ministry of Education, large purchases of millions in which companies linked to the family in power participate to also milk the public budget with rigged bids from there, and there it returns again the system. (They are) tenders that the Comptroller should scrutinize (and) what it does is approve simplified procedures to award them to them.
Can the wealth that is gathered around these companies and their operations be estimated?
Before, it was said that there was a confusion between family interests, the party and the State. In reality, the party is an absolutely non-existent issue. It is the family and their relatives, who appropriate the instruments of the State. A good indicator is these two audits that were made known to BanCorp, in which this capital entrusted as trusts is reflected. It did not appear as a deposit, but in something called a memorandum account. That is why the Superintendence of Banks (Siboif) did not reflect it as a deposit in BanCorp. (That) gives us an idea of the floor: the minimum because it is stated (in the document): 2.73 billion dollars in 2018.
If the Comptroller and the Prosecutor’s Office are not going to do any investigation on this confusion of the public and the private, could a democratic government?
For me, an investigation should be imperative. We haven’t talked about electricity either. Who are the owners of Disnorte and Dissur (the energy distributors)? Not only for a question of justice and politics, but for a question of viability of the country. Because if you have a mafia group, taking over a strategic sector such as the energy sector, the hydrocarbon business, if they control medicine imports and you don’t go in to check and control that, then you’re going to have a dagger in your throat! Permanently! In such a way that carrying out this investigation, elucidating and prosecuting when appropriate, would be a question of the viability of a process of democratic transition.
