Empower

SURA invests in overvalued toll highway operated by Aleatica, a company once accused of corruption

Translated from Spanish Aleatica – formerly OHL México – twice had to modify its financial statements for overvaluing its assets, by order of the National Banking and Securities Commission in Mexico. The company, which was accused of corruption during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18), received investment from at least one Mexican pension fund

Careful! You´re being watched: Mexican police use facial recognition technology for mass surveillance

Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Chiapas, Ciudad de México, Guanajuato, Morelos are some of the Mexican states that use facial recognition technology. In Mexico, the police agencies of 15 states have acquired facial recognition equipment with capabilities for mass surveillance, a form of biometric identification that is currently banned for police use in several U.S.

Identifying beneficial owners, a challenge to dismantling shell companies

Between 2014 and 2019 alone, fake invoicing by shell companies caused tax evasion worth over 354.5 billion pesos, according to the SAT. One day before signing a million-dollar contract with the government of Oaxaca, the company Grupo Constructor Maragall, S.A. de C.V. was reported as an alleged shell company by the Mexican tax authority. Nevertheless,

Welcome to Empower’s blog!

Human rights defenders, corporate accountability advocates, civil society allies, and friends in general, with the publication of this first blog we inaugurate this public communication space to share advances about our work and that of our partners, as well as commentary and reports about the issues we work on, on a monthly basis. Here you