Deputies from the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) demanded that the Tax Administration Service (SAT) investigate if the businesspeople and politicians named in the recent Bahamas Leaks scandal committed the crime of tax evasion.
Deputies Arturo Santana Alfaro, of the PRD, and Ricardo Ramírez, of the PRI, said that if any illegal activity is discovered to have taken place, those who moved their assets to the Bahamas should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Santana Alfaro said that the Bahamas Leaks case is similar to the Panama Papers case, but that the government needs to investigate before taking any action.
He said that tax authorities are responsible for determining if any crimes have been committed.
“It is an issue of fiscal evasion and you can’t distinguish in the application of justice, it needs to apply to everyone equally,” he said. “They should investigate all of the cases and base their conclusions on concrete evidence, but if they find proof of crimes by politicians, businesspeople, or powerful people in Mexico, the law should be applied.”
Ramírez said that it is legitimate for people to move their money to other countries, but not if they do it with the goal of tax evasion.
“What is not legitimate is tax evasion, that will be investigated,” he said. “If there turns out to be cases of tax evasion, there will be a response.”
