Government uncovers fraud in which Ferrocarriles Nacionales officials gained millions from sales of scrap
From The News and El Economista
The Secretariat of Funcion Publica announced it spent five years to detect a 1.8 billion-peso ($140.32 million) fraud involving five ex-officials of the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México and four companies.
Salvador Vega Casillas, the SFP's director, said that Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (FNM) held public auctions selling scrap metal on four occasions but never turned over the profits. He said the firm attempted to cover up the fraud in which 52 tons of metal scrap, including train tracks, screws, nails and other items, were reported to have been sold to the four companies.
The amount of materials stolen, he said, was “more than three times the size of (the materials used in) Mexico’s metro or seven times more metal than in the Eifel Tower.”
The business executives involved are Enrique Alejandro Rivas Zivy, a BANOBRAS special fudiciary also in charge of severance pay; Efrén Alejandro del Pozo Castro, legal sub-director; Antonio Paredes Ruiz, sub-manager of special services; Saúl Román Tiburcio, chief of legal affairs; and Pedro Rodolfo Muriel Salazar, chief of a sub-management area.
The companies charged are Remetsa, owned by Juan Guzmán Goatherd, Claudius Arvizu Téllez and David White Reséndiz; Cicloaceros; and a couple of Sonora businesses owned by Jose Fernando Sanchez Alarcón.
All of the stolen iron was obtained in five different areas in the states of Chihuahua, Michoacán, and Puebla.
If proven guilty, the former officials could face up to seven years in prison, as well as being obligated to pay all the damages.
