Mexican official makes bail by paying USD $0.77
2011-11-01
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
Saturday morning Eduardo Amerena, attorney for the disgraced former Coahuila state official confirmed his client, Javier Villareal was bailed out of jail less than 24 hours for less than USD $1.00 in bail, according to Mexican news accounts.
In Mexican jurisprudence bail is hardly ever very high even for major crimes. However, the extreme low amount Villareal paid, MP $10.00 was not revealed by Villareal's attorney when the first press query was made just after Villareal was released.
Press reports said at the time that the crime Villareal committed was not technically a crime. Villareal was merely discharging his duties as head of Coahuila state ,Sistema de Administración Tributaria del Estado de Coahuila (SATEC) when he gave two Mexican banks, Bajio and Santander, the go ahead to issue bonds for MP $3 billion last March.
According to an article in Vangardia.com.mx posted Saturday morning, Villareal could be released from criminal liability since he was arrested based on actions he took after then Governor Humberto Moreira Valdes left office last spring. It was unclear Monday who in Coahuila state government gave the go ahead to arrest Villareal, if true.
And also if true, the motivation is clearly a political one. If Villareal committed no wrongdoing during his tenure as SATEC director under Moreira, and committed an irregularity, criminal liability would go much farther up the chain of responsibility than Villareal's office.
Late reports said Sunday that Villareal has been placed in prison at 1700 hrs, well after the office of collections, Recaudacion de Rentas, was closed. It is impossible neither Villareal nor his attorney could make bail and receive the required bail certificate for his release. It is entirely possible Villareal was released without paying anything, not even MP $10.00.
Villareal was released early Saturday morning after spending a night in prison.
Fat Bond Sales Followed by a Fancy Dinner
By the time Villareal had notified Bajio and Santander banks about the Coahuila state Chamber of Deputies presumed approval of bonds to be issued by them, Coahuila was already at least MP $27 billion in debt and running headlong into a negative a bond event, which surely would have come sooner or later.
Banks love documentation. The more the better, in fact. So, why would two of the seven local banks waive documentation such as a critical certification of approval, unless the banks wanted sufficient time to issue bonds and then write up the sale in the books for the first quarter of 2011. At the time the end of the first quarter of 2011 quarter was less than 25 days away when Villareal notified the banks.
A nice fat sale of at least $1.5 billion to Coahuila state to top off the quarter, then dinner and drinks at Las Brazas of Saltillo Thursday night. Helluva deal!
This activity raises the question: "Why go through considerable public embarrassment and risk of running afoul of Mexican civil law? Where's the scam?"
The man who had run up Coahuila's public debt to historic levels, Humberto Moreira had already gone on to better things, so at that time such a decision was easy to make. What's another 10 percent indebtedness after all?
The answer may well lie in what Mexican press has not been covering and that is the lender side of the transaction.
It is hard to imagine anyone being so obtuse that they could take the job of governor of a Mexican state and not realize how bad the debt situation was already last March. However, it is possible that when Jorge Torres Lopez took the reins, he might have been told by Moreira, or may have himself discovered that the whole thing could collapse of banks didn't get to pile on another MP $3 billion in bonds by the end of the quarter.
Then Moreira could lose his position as leader of the PRI, and the whole thing could come tumbling down.
And all it would take from there would be a discrete phone call from an attorney reminding Villareal of his obligations to the PRI.
"No more than one night in jail, senor, you have my word. And then this dog and pony show will be over."