Banco Azteca operates with honesty, says after accusations against US congressman

Mexico City. Banco Azteca operates with “ethics, honesty and deep commitment,” the financial institution said after it was revealed that Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were accused by the United States government of receiving bribes from a financial institution. Mexican.

Through a message on its social network account We want to reiterate that our operations are governed by the highest international compliance standards.”

“Banco Azteca is, and has been since its origin, a leader in its commitment to security and the law, innovating and incorporating controls, processes and the most advanced technology into our services,” he indicated.

“We always operate with ethics, honesty and a deep commitment to our clients and our country,” he said.

According to the lawsuit, the Democratic congressman acted for the benefit of a Mexican bank so that the regulations would not affect it.

The document does not fully identify the banking institution, but only describes it as “a retail banking chain based in Mexico City,” aimed at serving “low-income sectors in Mexico and Central America, providing security services.” money transfer, consumer financing, deposit and others”, whose conglomerate to which it belongs also has a media company.

The lawsuit indicates that Cuellar and his wife received, through two bribery schemes related to an Azerbaijani oil firm and the Mexican bank, $600,000, which were used “to satisfy their debts, pay family expenses and make purchases.”

According to the accusations, the Mexican bank “needed correspondent banking relationships with US banks to help it repatriate large reserves of physical US currency that it kept in Mexico to the United States and convert the physical currency into electronic dollars,” after in 2012 Financial regulators in the American Union intensified enforcement of anti-money laundering laws.

That led several US banks to limit or withdraw from correspondent banking relationships with financial institutions in high-risk money laundering countries, such as Mexico, something that worried the bank.