The Senate of the Republic approved a reform of the Credit Institutions Act granting the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Ministry of Finance the power to freeze bank accounts without a court order.
You may be interested: Senate commissions approve opinion on marijuana regulation; moves to the plenary
With 45 votes in favour and 27 against, the Senate plenary amended the minutes sent by the Chamber of Deputies, and established that it will be the banks and not the FIU that notifys people in writing that they are included in the list of blocked accounts.
✅ With 45 votes in favour and 27 against, the Credit Institutions Act is reformed to guarantee the right of hearing to persons operating with resources of illicit origin.
Learn more about the reform at: https://t.co/qmX9qE8TqE
— Senate of Mexico (@senadomexicano) November 18, 2020
With the addition of a Chapter X to Title V of the Credit Institutions Act, the Ministry of Finance may include a person in the list of blocked accounts where it has sufficient evidence that he or she is linked to terrorist financing offences or operations with resources of illicit origin.
During the discussion of the initiative, legislators Alejandro Armenta Mier and Ana Lilia Rivera, who chair the Finance and Public Credit and Legislative Studies Second Committees, noted that account-blocking is constitutional when responding to compliance with the administrative procedures undertaken by the Treasury.
According to the senators, this project seeks to prevent or disrupt illegal acts that jeopardize national security, public security, the national economy or the financial system.
Read more: Senate challenges INE agreement to run 7 governments for women
For their part, the senators of the National Action Party expressed that they voted against the opinion “because it does not respect the guarantee of hearing and does not pay to the legal and financial certainty of those governed”.
?@minervahdezmx: The senators of @AccionNacional will vote against the opinion proposing to block the accounts, because it does not respect the guarantee of hearing and does not pay to the legal and financial certainty of the governed. pic.twitter.com/lsRtbA3fAu
— PAN Senators (@SenadoresdelPAN) November 18, 2020
The initiative was turned back to the Chamber of Deputies for discussion on the terms in which it was modified by senators.
What we do at Animal Politics requires professional journalists, teamwork, dialogue with readers and something very important: independence. You can help us keep going. Be part of the team.
Subscribe to Animal Politics, receive benefits and support free journalism.#YoSoyAnimal
