“Miguel Alemán Magnani is not guilty of tax fraud,” says his lawyer

On July 8, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) issued an arrest warrant against the Mexican businessman, due to accusations of tax fraud for an amount close to 65 million pesos.

A couple of days later, the National Migration Institute (INM) reported in a statement that Alemán Magnani had registered his last departure from the country on January 31, 2021, from the Toluca International Airport.

On this issue, Javier Mondragón assured that the businessman is not fleeing from the authorities, and that his departure abroad is due to the fact that he is in search of funds to rescue the airline he leads from the crisis.

“The lord is not running away. The man left the country in January, he went to the United States and Europe to try to get funds to try to solve the airline problem, ”he told Gómez Leyva.

Tejado assured that the crime was committed because Interjet paid the salaries of its employees in full, leaving the company without funds and without the possibility of paying the contributions that generated those payments. The airline asked the tax authorities for an extension of time to settle, but “when it comes to withholdings, it cannot grant deadlines,” said the lawyer.

“Apparently due to a lack of liquidity, the company or the administration chose to pay the workers’ wages in full. As there was not enough money to pay the salary and the contributions that are generated with said salaries, a tax omission was generated, “he explained.

Interjet’s financial problems began in 2019 when the airline accumulated tax debts – which have been confirmed by the SAT as of this period – and with suppliers, which led to days of flight cancellations during Easter and the summer of that year.

The pandemic gave the final blow to Interjet, which, like the rest of the airlines, halted operations amid restrictions on mobility. But unlike its competitors, Interjet no longer rose again. The company exited the international market in April, going from having 68 aircraft to four. In addition, he cut his employees’ wages in half and stopped paying his creditors.

In the summer of 2020, Interjet announced the entry of new investors: Alejandro del Valle and Carlos Cabal, who would lead an investment of 150 million dollars to recover from the crisis, leaving Alemán Magnani as chairman of the Board of Directors. But within weeks of the announcement, Carlos Cabal announced his exit from the investment and, eventually, Alejandro del Valle kept most of the company. The Alemán family was left with a minority stake.

As of September 2020, Interjet stopped paying its workers completely and on December 11 it stopped its operations. Since January he has faced a strike by Section 15, which represents around 5,000 workers.

The company sought bankruptcy to remedy an estimated debt of $ 1.25 billion.

Although the airline claimed to have a restructuring plan to enter bankruptcy and operate again in July, it was the union itself that promoted the lawsuit, which is currently in process, and which seeks to liquidate the company to pay the workers wages and benefits owed.

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