Why Did Banamex Grant Oceanografia a $400M Loan? Patricia Rey Mallen - IBTimes
go to original March 12, 2014

A Banamex advertisement is seen in Mexico City February 28, 2014. (Reuters/Edgard Garrido)

MEXICO CITY - Citigroup Inc., the third largest banking group in the U.S., announced in late February that it was revising its Q4 2013 profits, which resulted in a $235 million net reduction.

Citigroup disclosed that it had revised its numbers after investigating its Mexican unit, Banamex, and a transaction with a Mexican company, which found a $400 million gap in one of the accounts.

The gap was due to a loan granted by Banamex to oil services company Oceanografía S.A. de C.V. for supposed services to Mexican state-owned oil giant Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The loan amounted to $585 million, of which only $185 million were accounted for. The other 400 million had been requested with documents later found to be suspicious. Those papers have been sent to Pemex accountants to check if the services listed were actually performed by Oceanografía.

In the meantime, Oceanografía, which admitted to only having $50 million in its accounts, has been barred from entering into any contracts with the Mexican government or any state-owned company, including Pemex. The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts sent subpoenas to Citigroup. The Mexican Attorney General and the Bank and Securities Commission have initiated their own investigations of Banamex and its employees.

While the investigations proceed on both sides, there is the question on how that $400 million landed in Oceanografía’s hands when the requirements for a loan were not met. Jesús Murillo Karam, Mexico’s Attorney General, said in a press conference in early March that there were suspicions of money-laundering behind the operation.

Read the rest at IBTimes

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