Sunday’s “mega-auction” at the Los Pinos Cultural Center in Mexico City brought in 53,414,500 pesos (US $2.5 million), according to Ricardo Rodríguez Vargas, head of the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People (Indep).

He called the first Indep auction of 2020 “a success,” adding that it saw the highest participation by bidders of any of the government’s auctions so far.

“People didn’t put down their bidding paddles. We sold around 70% of the goods and there was great enthusiasm,” he told the president’s Monday morning press conference.

Among the goods on the block on Sunday were an armored Cadillac Escalade and a BMW luxury hybrid car.

Rodríguez said that they sold the goods on the block for around 56% more than their general appraised value. One such good was a house in Cancún that sold for 15 million pesos (US $718,500) and another in Tlajomulco, Jalisco, that sold for 4 million (US $191,600).

He said that the jewelry also sold very well, for around 27% more than its general calling price. The airplanes for sale sold for as much as 2,500% more than the opening bid.

Rodríguez said that the money taken in by the auction will go to the Economic Culture Fund, which will invest it in the printing of over 2 million copies of 21 “very interesting, very nice, very entertaining” books.

He said that due to a lack of public will, many of the properties for sale — many of which were confiscated from “key public figures” — had sat in the federal Attorney General’s Office’s inventory for as long as 15 years.

One such figure was Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese investor who has been implicated in drug trafficking.

Rodríguez said that more houses in Cancún and the Mexico City neighborhood of El Pedregal will be auctioned off in the next few months and the proceeds will likewise be allocated to fund social projects.

Source: Proceso (sp)