Billionaires Concerned with Corruption, Head of Leading Mexico Business Group Says Dolia Estevez - Forbes
go to original August 14, 2017

Gustavo de Hoyos Walther, Coparmex President (Coparmex)

The Confederation of Mexican Employers (Coparmex), a voluntary membership business organization with 36,000 members that include companies owned by Mexico's billionaires, is waging a public crusade against corruption, a widespread ailment that results in Mexico losing billions of dollars. "Much more foreign investment could come into Mexico if it weren't for corruption," Gustavo de Hoyos Walther, the Coparmex President (who is spearheading the effort), told me in a telephone interview from Mexico City.

Coparmex's members account for 30% of Mexico's GDP.

De Hoyos said that it's hard to quantify foreign investment loses since there is no data available on companies that decide not to invest because of corrupt practices. "But, I can say it's something that happens very frequently," he added.

The cost of corruption to Mexico's GDP varies from 2% (according to INEGI, a government agency, in 2013) to 9% (according to the World Bank and Mexico's Central Bank in 2015). It's money that moves from the formal to the underground economy. "The resources end up in the pockets of politicians and are then sent off shore to tax havens," De Hoyos said.

Most of ;Mexico's billionaires' companies are Coparmex members, including America Movil, the telecom firm controlled by Carlos Slim Helú, Mexico's richest person; mining firm Grupo Mexico, controlled by German Larrea; FEMSA, Latin America's biggest independent Coca-Cola bottler where Eva Gonda has a large stake; Jose Cuervo, Latin America's oldest active tequila distillery owned by Juan Francisco Beckman; Grupo Palacio de Hierro; a high-end department store chain controlled by Alberto Bailleres; and Grupo Bimbo, the bakery empire owned by ;the Servitje family, Mexico's second richest extended family.

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