Clouds Over Radiópolis
New revelations cast more doubt on Coral
It’s been a bad week for one side in the incredibly convoluted ownership dispute that surrounds Radiópolis.
The businessman who led the acquisition of 50, or maybe 51, percent of one of the country’s leading radio broadcasters is instead facing an arrest warrant— and, as we learned tonight, has been out of the country for nearly six months.
Miguel Alemán Magnani
The week’s headlines about Miguel Alemán Magnani have been uniformly bad news.
On Thursday, Javier Tejado Dondé had the first scoop when he revealed in his weekly column for El Universal that a federal judge had issued an arrest warrant for Alemán over tax fraud to the tune of about 65 million pesos owed to the Servicio de Administración Tributaria, and that this would be the first of various charges against him:
His lawyer, Javier Mondragón, told the same publication that the Fiscalía General de la República broke its promise for a hearing in the case:
Another financial obligation, this one denominated in dollars, came home to roost this week involving Alemán’s Interjet airline. Another Mexico City judge ordered an asset freeze after the Bank of Utah and TVPX Aircraft Solutions sued, claiming that they were owed $7,685,000 in airplane leasing contracts. Trademarks were also embargoed by the order of civil judge José Manuel Salazar Uribe.
On Friday morning, a federal labor arbitrator ordered seizures of more Interjet assets, including landing slots and real estate, because the company was “at risk of insolvency” and owed back pay to pilots, flight attendants and other airline staff. The airline has not operated since December 2020 due to its financial issues.
The cherry on top came Friday evening when the National Migration Institute circulated an alert to find him if he ever returned to Mexico, having left from Toluca on January 31. The FGR is preparing to ask Interpol to issue a red notice for his arrest and extradition.
All This On That
This sundae of new personal legal woes is the latest contribution to the many-layered gelato that is the Radiópolis ownership dispute.
In January, it was reported that there were 135 different active lawsuits related to the transaction and the dispute with Grupo PRISA for control over the company’s affairs.
In March, Alejandro del Valle publicly said he wanted out because Carlos Cabal Peniche failed to make good on his word to supply $30 million in credit. (Cabal has his own legal troubles now, too: he managed to get an injunction preventing any arrest warrant for minor crimes to be executed against him this week.)
Last month, Alberto Aguilar reported that new efforts were being proposed to try and resolve the logjam between owners. In this proposal, the Coral stake in Radiópolis would be deposited in a trust administered by BBVA México, with the goal of finding a buyer that meets with PRISA’s approval. However, the distribution of profits from a potential sale was cited as a sticking point between Coral’s stakeholders, including Cabal and Alemán, and Crédito Real, a lender that made a $32.5 million loan to Cabal’s wife Teresa Pasini as part of assembling funds for the purchase. The company’s total exposure is 695 million pesos. Crédito Real does not want to end up owning the 50 percent stake, Aguilar notes, citing its large legal exposure.
The Radiópolis case has been complicated from the beginning. Now, the news about one of its principal actors being a fugitive hiding from Mexican justice throws yet another wrench into the plans being laid to try and put the company back on much more sound ownership footing.
