The opinion in favour of the deafer against the governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, points to weaknesses in the investigation of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic (FGR), and exhibits the only concrete evidence of the case, which approved the resolution that will be voted on today in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies.
White Elephant had access to the 50-page document, where the court determined that there is concrete evidence of the crime of tax evasion equal to 6 million 511 thousand 777 pesos. In 2019, the representative declared revenue of 6 million 694 pesos to the Tax Administration Service (SAT). However, the investigation into the sale of the Santa Fe Forests department revealed that Cabeza de Vaca did not declare 36 million 935 thousand 578 pesos it received in 2019.
The Federation’s Fiscal Attorney’s Office determined that the panist politician made an undue benefit by misrepresenting his return and not paying Income Tax (ISR). In the pleading process, the defense attorney, Alonso Aguilar Zinser, tried to hold Mariana Gómez Leal, the governor’s wife, responsible for the evasion, but the argument was not accepted. The penalty for the wrongdoing is three to nine years in prison.
The Department of The Deaffron
The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic imputed to the panist politician the crimes of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin for the purchase and sale of the luxury department in the Los Ferns condominium within the Forests of Santa Fe fraction.
In 2013, Cabeza de Vaca and his wife Mariana Gómez applied for a credit of 14 million 300 thousand pesos from a Sofom to buy it; at the time Cowhead was a senator and had just voted in favor of the Energy Reform. The existence of the property was exposed the following year, when the marriage brought a commercial trial because they were prevented from entering the golf club that is part of the residential.
For 5 years the García Gómez fought access to the sports center, located at the foot of their apartment with the number 3B. In 2017, they filed direct protection for discriminatory acts with the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN). The trial was settled against him and they were unable to enter to play golf.
You may be interested: Cowhead, governor of Tamaulipas, used invoices linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, UIF complaint
The lawsuit attracted the media and was one of the reasons it forced the sale of the department. The acquisition was made under private conditions until the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) found a suspicious financial network linked to operations between Francisco García and several companies.
The García Gómez couple sold the property in 42 million 11 thousand 844 pesos to the company T Seis Doce, by businessman Juan Francisco Tamez Arellano, in 2019. The full payment, the FGR indicated, was received and 36 million 679 thousand 992 pesos were dispersed by the governor in 162 transfers; 64% was deposited in his family’s company, Rural Producer and Regional Cava Agriculture.
The indegatory on organized crime continued with the discovery of a transfer of 44 million 875 thousand 160 pesos from the company Avalúos y Peritajes del Sur to T Seis Doce, in the period near the acquisition of the department. In addition, the UIF identified that Avalúos also developed the assessment of the property and has characteristics of a phantom entity, insuring the evidence mentioned in the opinion.
The UIF and the FGR delivered documents on the transfer of 46 million 300 thousand pesos from six facade companies linked to the Sinaloa Cartel to Avalúos y Peritajes in the same year of the purchase of the department. In addition, the company T Seis Doce has the same address as Manuel Rodolfo Trillo Hernández, alias the “Trilladora”, who financed the tunnel through which Joaquín el “Chapo” Guzmán escaped the penal of the Altiplano in 2015, according to accusations of the then Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).
To reinforce the accusation of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin, the FGR presented information from an alleged network between the Secretariat of Public Works of the government of Tamaulipas, the real estate company RC Tamaulipas, owned by Baltazar Higinio Reséndez Cantú, and, once again, T Six Doce.
Between 2017 and 2019, Inmobiliaria RC Tamaulipas won two contracts in Reynosa for the construction of the Justice Center for Women and the Teaching Unit, totaling 48 million 600 thousand pesos. In 2019, Inmobiliaria RC deposited 33 million 553 thousand 500 pesos to T Seis Doce, who days later transferred 33 million 400 thousand 213 pesos to Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca. The latter payment the defense attorney presented a simple letter purporting to prove the deposit for the purchase of rustic premises.
“This Instructor Section has determined, after thoroughly analyzing and assessing all the elements of conviction provided to demonstrate the crime of operations with unlawfully sourced resources, that existing evidentiary material partially allows the elements constituting the materiality of the crime to be accredited as an officer,” the legislative body considered.
Lawmaker Pablo Gómez, and lawmakers Mary Carmen Bernal Martínez and Martha Patricia Ramírez Lucero stated that the FGR and FIU’s information set does not sufficiently resolve the allegations, although they mention that a judge must be the one who values the evidence and that is why they voted in favour of the inaffronity in the opinion.
Information they didn’t take into account
The Instructor Section did not take into account the cluster of information that the FGR provided about the governor’s alleged millionaire estate. On page 34 of the document, the Public Prosecutor’s Office states that the Cowhead family owns 32 properties in Texas and Tamaulipas, valued at more than 951 million pesos.
Read: With new evidence, UIF expands complaint against Cowhead
At the end of the opinion, they list the houses, ranches, premises, land and 19 vehicles that Francisco García allegedly shares with his wife Mariana Gómez, his father-in-law José Ramón Gómez Reséndez, his brothers José Manuel and Senator Ismael, and his mother María de Lourdes Cabeza De Vaca Wattenbarger. In some cases the properties appear in the name of Rural Producer and Agropecuaria Regional Cava.
The FGR notes that the García Cabeza de Vaca and Gómez Leal family has most of their property and properties in the municipalities of Soto la Marina and Reynosa, Tamaulipas. According to UIF information, they have two ranches that together add up to 1,214 hectares and 450 square meters of construction, a hacienda and a complete ejido with an area of 96 thousand square meters. All of the above goods are located in Soto la Marina and are valued at 155 million pesos.
In Reynosa, according to declaration 3 out of 3 presented by Cabeza de Vaca in campaign, he has a house of 464 square meters of construction and 722 square meters of land that he received in donation from his father and mother, worth 905 thousand 228 pesos. In addition to works of art, jewelry and household utensils, acquired in cash and credit, with a total estimated value of 2 million 440 thousand pesos. In conjunction with his wife Mariana Gómez Leal he has a house and 7 plots in the border town.
In Texas, the García Cabeza de Vaca family owns 15 properties. Brothers José Manuel, Ismael, Francisco and their mother Maria own 5 houses and 4 commercial properties in McAllen; 3 grounds, a winery and a house in Hidalgo, a mansion in Mission and another on Father’s Island. In the latter place there is also a property of Baltazar Higinio Reséndez Cantú, entrepreneur who is designated as a partner and alleged lenders of Cabeza de Vaca.
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