Businessman Carlos Ahumada Kurtz has been arrested in Panama on charges of tax fraud by the Mexican Attorney General's Office (FGR). According to sources from the Public Ministry of Panama, Ahumada is accused of fiscal fraud amounting to 1.4 million pesos (approximately $76,000). Panama detained the Argentine-Mexican businessman through an Interpol global arrest warrant as he tried to pass through an immigration checkpoint at Tocumen airport.
Ahumada Kurtz, who has a long history of legal run-ins, is now being held in the offices of the Panamanian immigration authorities. To extradite Ahumada Kurtz, the Mexican Government must submit a formal arrest warrant for extradition to Panama's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, legal roadblocks loom; a Mexican federal judge recently granted a provisional suspension of the arrest warrant, complicating immediate extradition attempts.
This is not Ahumada's first brush with the law. In 2004, he became infamous for releasing videos showing senior officials of the PRD, then led by Mexico City's head of government Andrés Manuel López Obrador, receiving bribes in exchange for public contracts. These revelations marked one of López Obrador's most challenging career moments.
Ahumada Kurtz's legal troubles continued when he was arrested in Buenos Aires in 2019. Though the Argentine government initially accepted the extradition request, the country's judiciary eventually allowed him to remain and face trial locally. Ahumada has often claimed that these legal actions are part of a vendetta led by López Obrador, asserting that there is no substantial legal evidence against him.
The Mexican FGR accuses Ahumada of various crimes, including tax fraud, extortion, fraud, and the use of apocryphal documents. In response, Ahumada has consistently denied these allegations, claiming that they are baseless.
Historically, Ahumada was deeply embedded within the PRD's inner circle, implicating notable figures such as local deputy René Berejano and Carlos Imaz, the ex-husband of Mexico's current president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Following the 2004 bribery scandal, Ahumada fled to Cuba but was extradited back to Mexico, where he served prison time before being released in 2007. He then relocated to Argentina to embark on new business ventures.
- The Panamanian Police, with input from Interpol, acted swiftly to detain Ahumada Kurtz as he passed through Tocumen airport. While Ahumada remains in the hands of the Panamanian immigration authorities, CNN has attempted but struggled to confirm further details regarding the specific charges he faces and his current legal representation.
- In 2021, the FGR highlighted Ahumada as potentially involved in generic fraud related to public works contracts in various districts of Mexico City. Despite these accusations, Ahumada has persistently refuted them in various interviews, claiming that he would not be extradited to Mexico on trumped-up charges.
- The early 2000s saw Ahumada at the center of Mexico's 'video scandals,' which stripped away the veneer of political integrity from many PRD officials. The fallout reached Andrés Manuel López Obrador, impacting his then-political standing. One prominent figure implicated through the scandal, René Bejarano, faced prison for money laundering but was acquitted in 2005. The enduring shadow of these events continues to influence perceptions of political integrity within Mexico.
