The Salinas Formula: Using Political Power to Fund Private Business with Public Resources

Juan Alberto Zedillo.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of the heirs to the fortune earned in the company created in 1906 with “dedication, effort and great work” by the Monterrey Salinas y Rocha family, broke this family tradition increase your wealth with less time and effort thanks to a “formula” that includes: alliances with rulers and judges who allow business bordering on illegal; the use of TV Azteca as an extortion tool and network in tax havens for tax evasion, as well as other activities that have a gangster stamp.

Salinas Pliego’s career in the world of business and politics was revealed by journalists Mathieu Tourlier in the book published by Editorial Terracota, “The Formula of Salinas, Networks of Power in Mexico.” A text that had previously been rejected by another well-known international company, fearing the reaction of a powerful businessman who had enjoyed benefits, influence and protection for the past six years.

Previously Ricardo Salinas Pligo initiated a “secret” lawsuit against Revista Proceso and three of its employees, in September 2019, including Mathieu Tourlier, accused them of “moral damage” after the magazine published a report condemning the participation of the owner of TV Azteca in a fraudulent purchase and sale. semi-public Grupo Fertinal during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto.

Tourlier had access to the most complex and shady financial movements of the businessman who owns the Elektra home appliance chain, thanks to his participation in the international team of investigative journalists who uncovered information leaked in the Panama Papers. He discovered that Ricardo Salinas runs 450 companies, many of them “shell” firms registered in tax havens as offshore companies established in Belgium, Sweden or Luxembourg and with provisional names in Spain. Even Salinas Pliego became a “citizen” on the islands of Antigua and Barbados receive the famous “Golden Visa”, which will allow you to manage your investments as a native of the islands.

The small fortune inherited from the Salinas y Rocha family began to increase when the former president of the same surname sold the public television network Imevisión at a bargain price in July 1983, which was renamed TV Azteca. “Salinas Formula”, including gangster methods the seizure of enterprises was first expressed in conflict with stay with channel 40 and repeater antennas installed on Cerro del Chiquihuite.

The fortune that Salinas Pliego accumulated in subsequent years was the result of his collusion with corrupt federal officials and rulerswhich is very common among large businessmen living mainly in the capital of the country. A practice that contrasts with the trajectory of his family and some businessmen in Nuevo Leon. For example, Salinas and Rocha stores have grown over the century. The same trajectory is observed in companies such as Cemex, formerly Cervecería Cuauhtémoc or Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey, companies founded in the early 20th century.

The same businessmen condemned the gangster method of Salinas Pliego, who uses TV Azteca as a tool of blackmail and extortion to obtain advertising agreements and resources to finance his “Azteca Foundation”. Moreover, his means of communication allow him to maintain influence in circles of political power.

The best example came in the last six-year term, when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador handed over to Banco Azteca the management of all its social programs during the first two years of his administration. And also he enjoyed evading taxes to the System of Tax Administration (SAT) amounting to more than 36 billion pesos.the largest amount among large companies in the country.

“The following pages are the result of painstaking journalistic work based on hundreds of documents that I obtained through requests for information, leaks and queries in various databases,” says Mathieu Tourlier in the presentation of his book.

“I also held dozens of conversations with people who dealt with the billionaire, with varying degrees of intimacy, from family members to employees, including former partners, legislators and senior officials. These negotiations were held off the recordfor the purpose of obtaining documents and collecting journalistic data, and not for the compilation of grievances or rumors against a person whose life was marked by contradictions and conflicts, and who harmed many people on his way to the top of power,” it adds. author.

The book “The Salinas Formula” explores the mechanisms of concentration of wealth and, therefore, describes power itself. “It documents how Ricardo Salinas Pliego made his fortune under the protection of political power as an army of servants and emissaries advanced their interests to win concessions, discover new fields and crush their opponents.”

The “Salinas Formula” refers to the tactics used to extract benefits from each government in turn, from Carlos Salinas de Gortari to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, including lies, co-optation of the judicial systemhiring government officials and using TV Azteca to attack their enemies.

“The first chapter shows how Ricardo Salinas Pliego built his network of influence in the Mexican state; reveals details of the privatization of Imevisión, reveals the conflict over Channel 40 and the Unefon fraud, reveals the way the tycoon and his companies funneled billions of dollars to the offshore structures the billionaire used to evade taxes and invest in lucrative industries such as mining.”

The second part focuses on a conspiracy to defraud Pemex Fertinal of more than $635 million during the era of the parastatal’s director, Emilio Lozoya Austin, and exceeding the waste of government resources known as the Master Scam. “The Fertinal case, like many others inherited from Pena Nieto’s six-year term, went unpunished during López Obrador’s government,” concludes Mathieu Tourlier.