Miguel Ángel is a worker from Villahermosa who supports his family by alternating between his job as a driver and logistical support work at local dances. In a difficult-to-explain contradiction, he is also listed as a shareholder of Comercio y Construcción de Tabasco SA de CV, a company identified by the Mexican Tax Administration Service (SAT) as a shell company or “invoice-issuing firm,” which has operated from a shopping center owned by the Bermúdez Requena family and was a contractor during the administration of Adán Augusto López.
Miguel Ángel’s case is not isolated. On his LinkedIn profile, Carlos Suárez Alor reports being an administrative assistant at Rager de Tabasco, a company founded more than 20 years ago by the Bermúdez Requena brothers; at the same time, this employee has served as the legal representative of Construagregados Hopelchén, another company that the SAT also placed on its definitive list of shell companies and which, coincidentally, was also a contractor when Adán Augusto was governor of Tabasco.
An investigation by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) documented that this type of practice is repeated in dozens of companies in Tabasco that have resorted to using the identities of workers, office staff, and beneficiaries of social programs to register them as supposed shareholders, partners, or legal representatives, when in reality they are acting as figureheads or fronts for the true owners.
This practice allowed for the creation of a business network that simulated competition in order to monopolize contracts. Some of the companies became part of a network that grew during the administration of Adán Augusto López in Tabasco and later spread to at least six states governed by Morena and to the federal level.
The network, comprised of at least 20 companies, has obtained contracts exceeding 2.36 billion pesos in Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Hidalgo, Puebla, and Quintana Roo, as well as with federal agencies, with a significant presence in Conagua and Segalmex, where the largest corruption case of López Obrador’s six-year term occurred.
Some of the companies that benefited have had Alejandro Márquez Rodríguez, a Tabasco businessman nicknamed “El Ganso” (The Goose), as a partner, administrator, or legal representative. Márquez Rodríguez is a close friend of Adán Augusto López, whom he even accompanied on his campaign tour as a Morena pre-candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
MCCI sought a statement from Adán Augusto López by sending a questionnaire on Friday to his Senate contact email. No response was received by the time of publication of this investigation. On Sunday morning, he announced his resignation as Morena’s leader in the Senate.
Source: contralacorrupcion
