Son of controversial former Mexican oil leader Romero Deschamps in Pandora Papers

Pandora papers
an offshore company, created for the sale of boats, real estate and jewelry, according to documentation found in Pandora Papers. Both the father and the son were denounced in 2019 by the Mexican Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) that investigates money laundering.
By: Claudia Ocaranza and Peniley Ramírez,
Oct 13, 2021 – 07:59 AM EDT
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as a legislator in both chambers for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The questioning of Romero Deschamps does not seem to have been an obstacle for some of the family members to have sought refuge in the world of foreign companies known as offshore, reveals Pandora Papers.

This is the case of the most discreet of his sons, Alejandro Romero Durán, a businessman linked to the rental of air taxis and aeromechanical workshops. Romero Durán has been a client of two firms that are dedicated to the incorporation of offshore companies, according to data known by Univision Investiga in association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The businessman used the services of Trident Trust and Aramo Trust Co. Limited, office of Castro & Berguido in the British Virgin Islands.

The offshore

In 2009 Romero Durán hired Trident Trust for that office to serve as custodian of the shares of Steller Overseas Holdings Inc. the British Virgin Islands. In 2012 he acquired all the shares of the company.

, antiques and jewelry.

The Panamanian law firm Castro & Berguido, was used to make payments and offshore procedures.

Son of controversial former Mexican oil leader Romero Deschamps in Pandora Papers

In January 2013, Steller Overseas Holdings requested that Trident's custody agreement for the bearer shares be canceled and that the company be listed as inactive since December 14, 2012, ie retroactively. In the correspondence found in the Pandora Papers leak there are no documents explaining the reasons for these decisions. However, the firm is currently listed as an active company on the British Virgin Islands registry with agent Aramo Corporate Services, according to that jurisdiction's database.

Francisco Labastida in 2000. Romero Deschamps resigned on October 16, 2019 as general secretary of the Union of Oil Workers of the Mexican Republic (STPRM) after 26 years in that position.

But now the situation is different. Univision Investiga obtained exclusive access to a suspicious financial transaction complaint filed in May 2019 by the FIU against Romero Durán, his father, his mother, a brother, a sister, a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law. Four family businesses were also denounced.

According to the 172-page document, Aeromonky Service Center, Aeromonky and ODIS Asversa are among the family businesses under investigation for triangulation of resources through front companies and international transfers.

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It is not known what decision the Trident Trust took after the FIU filed the complaint with the Mexican Attorney General's Office. Trident Trust limited itself to responding for this report that its businesses are regulated in each jurisdiction where it operates, "and it is committed to complying with all applicable regulations." In addition, that "Trident does not talk about its clients with the media."

Aramo Trust and Castro & Berguido did not respond to the questionnaires sent. Alejandro Romero Durán also did not respond to the questionnaire sent for this report.

Investigated properties

The assets of Steller Overseas Holdings, declared in 2009 by Romero Durán before the Trident Trust, are ten properties in various states of the country. Within Mexico City there is a penthouse on Tres Picos street in the exclusive area of ​​Polanco, an apartment on Dante in the Anzures neighborhood and a house on Anaxágoras in the Narvarte neighborhood. He also searched a house in Cancun, Quintana Roo; four residences in the State of Mexico; a house in Salamanca, Guanajuato, and another in Hidalgo.

Of the 10 properties, only two are mentioned in the FIU complaint. Steller Overseas Holdings is not mentioned.

The head of the UIF Santiago Nieto published a tweet saying that those who appear in the papers would be investigated. The official was not available for an interview.

This consortium of journalists managed to verify through property records that Alejandro continues to be the owner of four of the 10 properties declared in Steller Overseas Holdings.

Affluent grandfather?

In the Trident Trust questionnaire on the origin of the company's assets, Romero Durán responded that he received funds from his paternal grandfather, which he invested in “the sale of real estate, collector cars, antiques and jewelry''.

The statement by Romero Durán contrasts with the memories that former Pemex union member Octavio René Hernández Martínez has of his grandfather.

“They were merchants and artisans... they sold things... [The grandfather] lived in a poor neighborhood,'' Hernández said of Romero Durán's grandfather.

The ex-unionist said he met Carlos Romero Deschamps as a child and his family in Tampico, Tamaulipas, northeastern Mexico.

Properties

The doormen at the Polanco and Anzures buildings in Mexico City where, according to records, Romero Durán owns property, said they did not know him. Quinto Elemento Lab verified that the businessman is still co-owner with his brother José Carlos of the house in Cancun. And in the Salamanca house, acquired by Romero Durán in 1993, he also still appears as the owner.

Anaxágoras' house in Mexico City was purchased in 2013 by Edificaciones Alcar for more than $200,000.

None of the properties that appear in the public records that provided information list the offshore firm as owner or shareholder. The State of Mexico and Hidalgo did not deliver the records of the requested properties.

Paulo Díez, tax lawyer, to Univision News.

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Andrea Cárdenas from Quinto Elemento Lab, Mathieu Tourliere from Proceso and Zorayda Gallegos from El País contributed to this report.

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