After a ruling was announced against Ricardo Salinas Pliego for the payment of 580 million dollars to foreign creditors, Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed said resolution and pointed out that there are more pending processes against the businessman.
Mexico City, October 23 (However).- The President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo confirmed today that a ruling that protected Ricardo Salinas Pliego to avoid the payment of 580 million dollars (mdd) to foreign creditors was revoked by a Civil Matters Court of the Mexico City (CdMx)and assured that other proceedings against the businessman are yet to be resolved in the country.
From National Palacethe federal president was questioned about the issue, to which she commented that the ruling revoked the precautionary measures that a Judge had ruled in favor of the owner of Salinas Groupwho took shelter during the pandemic COVID-19 to avoid paying a debt United States (EU) by claiming that he was not in a position to cover said debt.
“Remember that this businessman, during the time of the pandemic,… I don’t know if it is exactly an amparo. I don’t believe it because it is not federal. He makes a legal appeal to a Judge in Mexico City to say that due to the pandemic he is not in a position to pay his debts in the United States,” commented the President during her morning press conference.
Sheinbaum Pardo added that, although Salinas Pliego was right at that time, what was done yesterday was to review the case again, after which it was determined that it no longer has any basis and that he must pay the debt.
“Surely there will be a tweet soon saying that it is not true, but that is the report they gave us about what is happening. There are still other proceedings also in the courts of Mexico City,” said the head of the Executive Branch.
When asked if an equally favorable result is expected for the rest of the procedures against the businessman to pay what he owes to the treasury in Mexico, the President limited himself to saying that the cases must be resolved in the following days or weeks.
“If it is resolved in the opposite direction, then it is no longer valid, let’s say, the controversy, the arbitration. Why? Because part of these courts have already been resolved,” he indicated.
Likewise, when asked if there was a date to meet with the foreign creditors that Salinas Pliego must pay, Sheinbaum mentioned that they are waiting to “see how the Mexico City court resolves to have that meeting.” “I asked the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury that they be the ones who attended to those who asked us for this meeting,” he said.
The debt of the president of Grupo Salinas began in 2017, when the television station issued 400 million dollars (more than seven billion pesos) in debt securities with the agreement to pay interest semiannually at an annual rate of 8.25 percent, but in 2021 it stopped complying. US investors, through subsidiaries incorporated in the Cayman Islands, acquired these debt bonds, which have been increasing to date.
Due to lack of payment, the investment fund managers Cyrus Capital Partners and Contrarian Capital Partner filed an arbitration in June 2023 against the federal government under the framework of the T–MEC and now request direct dialogue with the Executive to reach an agreement.
In addition to this debt, Salinas Pliego owes the Mexican treasury more than 74 billion pesos, which continues to litigate before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), Collegiate Circuit Courts and the Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA) to extend the payment for as long as possible.
Similarly, Ricardo Salinas Pliego paid a bail of 25 million dollars in the United States to avoid his arrest for a debt he owes to the multinational AT&T Inc. This debt, different from the others, originated in 2014, when the American AT&T bought the telephone company Iusacell, then owned by Salinas Pliego. The intention of the foreign company was to enter the Mexican market.