A federal judge on Thursday issued a warrant for the arrest of former Interjet CEO Miguel Alemán Magnani on 66-million-peso (US $3.3 million) tax fraud charges.
The warrant was issued in Mexico City on the request of the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), according to court officials.
The FGR has been investigating the ex-chief of the beleaguered airline since the beginning of the year. Interjet faced a slew of problems in 2020, including cash flow shortages and flight cancellations, before ceasing operations in December. The airline announced earlier this year that it was filing for bankruptcy.
The issuing of the arrest warrant comes five months after the Office of the Federal Tax Prosecutor filed a complaint against Alemán with the FGR for allegedly failing to pay almost 66.3 million pesos in taxes owed by Interjet. The money the company should have paid but allegedly didn’t was income tax it was required to withhold from employees’ salaries in December 2018.
Court officials told the newspaper El Financiero that an Interpol red notice against Alemán, who is a part owner of Interjet, could be issued in the coming days.
“The Interpol red notice would be issued if it’s proven he’s out of the country … but that would take a few days,” they said.
Alemán is the son of businessman and former governor of Veracruz Miguel Alemán Velasco and the grandson of former president Miguel Alemán Valdés.
Interjet said in April that it intended to resume operations as soon as possible, but whether it will be in a financial position to do so is unclear. The budget carrier owes 47.6 million pesos to airport operator Pacific Airport Group and has other large debts to tax authorities and creditors.
With reports from Milenio and El Financiero
