Authorities announced on Tuesday that more than 9 million square meters of beachfront land in Nayarit has been recovered, years after it was illegally appropriated from the state and sold.
All told, just over 9.6 million square meters of land on the Riviera Nayarit coast was recovered, according to the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the Nayarit Attorney General’s Office.
The land — in locations including Nuevo Nayarit, Bucerías and Sayulita — was wrongfully taken from the state of Nayarit and sold off during the governorships of Ney González Sánchez (2005-2011) and Roberto Sandoval Castañeda (2011-2017), according to officials. The two ex-governors, and other former officials, are accused of benefiting from the sale of the land.
Nayarit Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero told a press conference on Tuesday that 93% of the land that was illegally privatized during the governorships of González and Sandoval has now been recovered. He said that the land was taken from the state via simulated legal procedures.
Navarro said that the estimated value of the recovered land is 50 billion pesos (US $2.7 billion). If all the land was completely cleared of vegetation and connected to public services, its value would be 100 billion pesos or more, he said.
The land was recovered during the so-called “Nuevo Nayarit Mega Operation,” which commenced in February 2022.
A ‘carefully planned’ scheme
Nayarit Attorney General Petronilo Ponce Arellano said that ex-governors González and Sandoval — both of whom represented the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — as well as other former federal and state officials, and private citizens and companies, took part in an illicit scheme that involved appropriating land owned by the state.
Sandoval is already in prison, while González is a fugitive from justice. The former was sentenced to seven years in prison in September after he was found guilty of falsifying documents and appropriating a 58-hectare property in the coastal municipality of San Blas, Nayarit. Sandoval’s stay in prison could be extended if he is found guilty of additional land-related dealings from which he illegally benefited.
An Interpol Red Notice has been issued for González’s arrest. His whereabouts is unknown, although some reports have stated that he fled to Israel.
In addition to recovering more than 9 million square meters of coastal land during the Nuevo Nayarit Mega Operation, Ponce said that 359 bank accounts connected with the illicit land appropriation scheme have been seized.
The seized accounts held just over 7.2 billion pesos (US $393.5 million) and belonged to 45 people and 82 companies, he said.
Ponce also said that authorities obtained search warrants that allowed them to carry out raids at various public notary’s offices allegedly linked to the illicit land appropriation scheme.
During the raids, “alterations in registry books and official documents” were detected, he said. Ponce said that the alterations confirmed “the existence of a carefully planned scheme to simulate legal acts and strip the state of assets of great value.”
Gabriel Camarena Morales, a legal advisor for the Nayarit government, said that 90% of the people involved in the appropriation and illicit sale of public land have signed compensation agreements and thus avoided criminal charges.
Investigations are ongoing
Cristina Reséndiz Durruti, a prosecutor with the FGR, said that investigations into the land appropriation scheme are ongoing. She said that family members of González and Sandoval and companies linked to the two men are under investigation.
Reséndiz noted that warrants have been issued for the arrest of González on various charges, including embezzlement, document forgery and influence peddling.
Ponce said that the investigations date back to February 2022, when the Nayarit Attorney General’s Office received a complaint against the two ex-governors and other former officials. The complaint was filed by the trustees of the Fideicomiso de Bahía de Banderas (Fibba), a government trust that manages public land in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, which adjoins Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.
González and Sandoval are among a large group of former governors of Mexican states who have been accused of — and in various cases convicted of — corruption. They include Javier Duarte of Veracruz, Roberto Borge of Quintana Roo and César Duarte of Chihuahua.
With reports from El Universal, La Jornada and Milenio
