Reportaje de
José Luis Montenegro in Mexico City and Julio C Roa in Florida
Additional reporting by Rory Carroll
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Una nueva polémica inmobiliaria rodea
a Angélica Rivera
El Grupo Pierdant, que
busca contratos con el Gobierno, es dueño de un apartamento en Miami usado por
la esposa del presidente Peña Nieto
EL PAÍS, México 9 AGO
2016 - 10:59
A menos de un mes de que
el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto pidiera perdón por el escándalo de la Casa
Blanca, su esposa, Angélica Rivera vuelve al centro de la polémica. Y es
nuevamente por una propiedad inmobiliaria. El diario inglés The
Guardian (abajo en ingles) asegura que la esposa del mandatario mexicano utiliza un
lujoso departamento de dos millones de dólares en Cabo Vizcaya, al sur de Miami
Beach, propiedad de Grupo Pierdant, una empresa que busca obtener contratos de
la Administración del PRI para remodelar los puertos nacionales.
#
Mexican first lady's
Florida home owned by potential government contractor
Guardian investigation
reveals Angelica Rivera is using $2.05m luxury apartment bought by Grupo
Pierdant, a contender to run Mexico’s ports
José Luis Montenegro in
Mexico City and Julio C Roa in Florida
@jl_montenegroj
Tuesday 9 August 2016
13.00
Mexico’s first lady is
using a luxury property in Florida bought by a company that is expected to bid
for lucrative government contracts, the Guardian has learned.
Angelica Rivera, the
wife of President Enrique Peña Nieto, is using the $2.05m apartment in Key
Biscayne, south of Miami Beach, with the apparent blessing of Grupo Pierdant,
which is a contender to run Mexico’s ports.
The company has also
paid the property tax on an additional Key Biscayne apartment bought by a
holding company set up by Rivera.
The arrangements echo
aspects of Rivera’s purchase of a $7m mansion in Mexico City from another
government contractor, the so-called Casa Blanca (White House) scandal.
The first couple’s
perceived conflict of interest with the government’s contracting process landed
like a bombshell in 2014, wrecking Peña Nieto’s popularity and reformist
credentials and reviving long-standing concerns about corruption in the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
The Guardian’s
investigation into the Florida properties reveals an unorthodox relationship
between the first lady and Grupo Pierdant, centered on Ocean Tower One, a gated
community with a pool, tennis courts and white glove concierge in Key Biscayne,
an affluent enclave in Miami-Dade County.
Rivera, a former
telenovela star, bought a three-bedroom unit, number 304, in 2005. She revealed
its existence publicly in November 2014 in the wake of the Casa Blanca
controversy, which put her finances under scrutiny. Rivera said she had lived
in the Florida apartment for one year with her daughters. It is currently worth
around $3.5m, according to Zillow.
However, she made no
mention of Grupo Pierdant nor the company’s founder, Ricardo Pierdant, who has
extensive business interests in Mexico and the United States.
In 2009 Pierdant bought
unit 404 in Ocean Tower One through a company, Biscayne Ocean Holdings,
apparently set up for that purpose.
Since then he appears to
have let the first lady use the property as an addition to her other apartment,
in effect allowing them to be managed as a single unit.
The properties share the
same phone number. A woman who answered in Spanish, and identified herself only
as Maria, said packages for Rivera could be sent to either property. “It’s the
same,” she said.
In March 2014 Pierdant’s
company deepened the link – and raised fresh questions – by paying property tax
not only on unit 404 but also on 304, even though it is in Rivera’s name. The
latter’s tax bill for that year was $29,703.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax
on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Paid in march 2014, for 2013
tax years.
The document showing Grupo Pierdant paid tax
on Angelica Rivera’s apartment in Key Biscayne. Photograph: Handout
Pierdant’s establishment
of Biscayne Ocean Holdings to acquire his unit mimicked that of Rivera, who
registered her own company, UNIT 304 OTO INC, to acquire hers. Pierdant and
Rivera are the sole directors and owners of each company.
The nexus between the
two raises concern because one of the businessman’s other companies, Grupo
Pierdant, is reportedly in the running for government contracts to develop Mexico’s
maritime ports.
When the Guardian phoned
Pierdant to ask about the properties he hung up without explanation. Peña
Nieto’s office rebuffed a request for comment, saying no one was available to
discuss the topic. The president’s office later rebuffed a second request by saying
the first lady’s properties were a security matter.
Pierdant’s link to
Mexico’s first couple will come as news to Americans who know him as the
co-founder of DecoBikes, a bicycle-sharing program in Miami and San Diego.
The apparent conflict of
interest between his other firm, Grupo Pierdant, and the first lady echoes that
over the Casa Blanca, a modernist white mansion in Mexico’s capital with seven
bedrooms, marble floors and a spa.
Outrage erupted in 2014
when it emerged Rivera was buying the mansion from Grupo Higa, a company
associated with a Chinese-led consortium that won a $3.7bn government contract
to build a high-speed rail link.
Rivera and her husband,
who has ruled Mexico since 2012, denied any wrongdoing, saying she was paying
for the house in installments from her own TV-made fortune.
However the first lady
later returned the property and last month Peña Nieto apologized, saying the
scandal had dented faith in the presidency and government. “For this reason,
with all humility I ask your forgiveness,” he told political leaders. “I
reiterate my sincere and profound apology for the offense and indignation I
have caused you.”
The president made the
apology as he signed into law an anti-corruption system that his PRI party
hopes will boost its flagging credibility in the run-up to the 2018
presidential election.
Mexican journalist and
Penguin sued in bid to ban sale of bombshell book
However, Carmen
Aristegui, the journalist who broke the Casa Blanca story, has been fired from
her radio show and is being sued, along with her publisher, in an effort to
pull the exposé from bookstores.
Disclosure of the first
lady’s property arrangement in Florida may cast a fresh shadow over a ruling
party which became synonymous with corruption during the 20th century.
The properties at Ocean
Tower One “the most the most upscale beach front condominium on the beautiful
island of Key Biscayne,” according to a realtor’s blurb – are not the only
connection between the administration and Pierdant.
In 2014 the state-run
national hydrocarbons commission, which regulates hydrocarbon exploration, paid
the equivalent of $61,500 to the businessman’s sister, Aurora Pierdant, a
lawyer, for advice on energy law.
This was despite the
fact that in 2011 – the year before Peña Nieto took office – the state oil
firm, Pemex, fired her as a manager for administrative negligence and violating
procedure in assigning a large contact.
She was banned from the
public sector for one year. Her consultancy firm’s biography describes her as
an expert in drafting government contracts and bidding rules.
Additional reporting by
Rory Carroll
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