In 12 years, the former head of the SSP accumulated an unquantifiable fortune

Gustavo Castillo García/ III and Last

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, January 17, 2023, p. 5

The United States is putting Genaro García Luna on trial for drug trafficking, who during 12 years as a high-level official of the Mexican government accumulated an unquantifiable fortune, with resources allegedly coming from bribes from criminal groups and the illegal granting of contracts for the purchase of weapons, police equipment, vehicles, uniforms, software of espionage and materials used in prison security, especially during the government of PAN member Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.

According to investigations by the United States Department of Justice and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Mexico, an international corruption network managed the resources and involved García Luna collaborators in transfers from Mexico to Panama, Barbados and the United States , the operation of more than 30 companies, the purchase of real estate and the establishment of businesses in US territory.

The former official will face a trial starting this Tuesday in New York, accused of having protected the operations of the Sinaloa and Beltrán Leyva cartels between 2001 and 2012. He is also accused by the FIU before US authorities of having stolen 600 million dollars from the Mexican government. Dollars.

In Mexico, the Specialized Prosecutor for Organized Crime (Femdo) is investigating the former head of federal Public Security (SSP) and his main collaborators for organized crime, crimes against health and money laundering.

Report of assets and resources

In his first asset statement as director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI), in 2003, García Luna reported that he owned a piece of land with a value of 450,000 pesos, a motorcycle of 190,000 pesos, savings accounts with 325,000 pesos , 625 thousand 715 pesos in his individualized separation insurance and debts for 66 thousand 808 pesos in credit cards.

That same year García Luna obtained as head of the AFI an annual salary of 2 million 63 thousand 313 pesos.

When he finished his position in the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), according to the records of his patrimonial declaration of May 2006, he obtained an annual net salary of 2 million 455 thousand pesos.

At that time, he already owned a 2004 Land Rover truck, worth 617,136 pesos, and a 1966 Ford Mustang car, which he acquired in cash for 220,000 pesos. He hid how much real estate he had, declared a bank account with 2,630 pesos, card debts of 19,000 pesos, and a debt of 34,000 pesos related to the purchase of the truck.

In his statement of assets of January 16, 2007, when he was already working as head of the federal SSP, he reported that his net monthly salary amounted to 160 thousand 540 pesos (one million 926 thousand 480 net annual pesos).

For that date, he reported the ownership of two houses acquired through mortgage loans. One had 160 square meters of construction, with a value of 862 thousand 800 pesos. The second was a piece of land of 220 square meters and 200 square meters of construction, with a value of 2 million 350 thousand pesos. By that date, he had also purchased a 1970 Ford Mustang vehicle worth 245,000 pesos, which he paid in cash.

In bank accounts he had savings of 355 thousand 763 pesos and in his individualized separation insurance 2 million 772 thousand 87 pesos; He had debts of 127,000 pesos on his credit cards and reported outstanding balances of 2,764,401 pesos on his mortgage loans.

In May 2008, he declared net annual income of 3 million 821 thousand 226 pesos; having acquired in 2007 another property with a value of 7 million 550 thousand pesos through a mortgage loan. His resources in bank accounts amounted to 127 thousand pesos, the resources of his individualized separation insurance were 906 thousand 316, while his debts were only mortgages, for an amount of 10 million 388 thousand 848 pesos.

From 2009 to 2013, when he filed his last asset statement, he no longer recorded data on his income from salaries and other items. Nor with respect to their properties or economic assets in bank accounts or their properties.

How the circle of trust operated

For that period, García Luna already had accusations that he had received bribes from criminal groups and that men he trusted with positions in the Federal Police protected or extorted kidnapping gangs.

The versions of the time indicated that this circle of associates of García Luna carried out recreations of captures or rescues of kidnapped persons, to be transmitted by the media.

Among those episodes was the most notable, that of the so-called band of the zodiac, which involved the French Florence Cassez, who had to be released because the violation of her human rights had been verified during her arrest. The Mexican Israel Vallarta is still detained for the same case.

The FIU denounced before a court in Florida, United States, the presumption of money laundering by García Luna through his collaborators and partners in companies that supply weapons and security items to the Federal Police.

According to the indictment, “in this position of immense power, García Luna controlled many aspects of the public security forces in Mexico, including various officials from public security agencies, the Federal Police, the Center for Investigation and National Security (Cisen) .

Extensive partner network

“Since the beginning of his appointment to this position, the defendant received bribes from (businessmen) Weinberg López and Weinberg Pinto and others. In return, García Luna established an extensive network of business associates that he later used to obtain illegal contracts from various entities and agencies of the Mexican government for hundreds of millions of dollars, which defendant García Luna and his associates later laundered.

The transfers by his co-conspirators were made from Mexico to the United States and elsewhere, through the creation of a complex network of entities, which was used to purchase and hold multiple real estate.

According to the investigation, among the companies used for money laundering are Nunvav Technologies (United States), Gull Holding Enterprises (Panama), Glac Security Consulting, Technology and Rys Management, a Mexican corporation owned by García Luna.

According to the lawsuit filed by the FIU, and which is ongoing in Florida, Defendant Garcia Luna and individuals acting under his direction, through an elaborate illegal government contracting scheme, illegally obtained more than $600 million from the Mexican government.

Among those indicated is the former undersecretary José Niembro González, who was the head of the Information Technology area within the federal SSP and was in charge of the design, start-up and operation of the Mexico Platform, the now-defunct information bunker and government communications.