Broxel, the legislators' e-wallet, in the government's sights; they see a possible conflict of interest between the company and an official at Hacienda

Servicios Broxel, S. A. P. I. de C. V., the company that issued the electronic wallets distributed to 254 Morena federal deputies, is being investigated by the Anticorruption Secretariat for the alleged obtaining of contracts with a conflict of interest, the existence of overpayments, and multimillion-peso debts owed to 39 government agencies. On November 3, EL UNIVERSAL revealed the delivery of Broxel cards to federal lawmakers from the guinda-colored party. Each of them received three cards with 10,000 pesos each. The Grand Newspaper of Mexico reported that this company also holds contracts with the Chamber of Deputies for the distribution of grocery cards for rank-and-file and trusted employees, and noted that Broxel continues to obtain contracts despite being a company with multiple accumulated complaints and audits for various alleged irregularities. The Anticorruption and Good Government Secretariat sent an official letter to Bancomext regarding Broxel's request to obtain a line of credit, which was denied due to the risk of the company's disqualification. Yesterday, the Anticorruption and Good Government Secretariat reported that, as part of the investigations, conflicts of interest were detected between a federal official assigned to the Treasury Secretariat (Secretaría de Hacienda) and Servicios Broxel, which in 2025 alone obtained contracts worth more than 10 billion pesos with the federal public administration. According to the inquiry, Broxel's legal representative, Karlo Gerardo Siliceo Valdespino, is the brother of Miguel Sergio Siliceo Valdespino, head of the Investment Unit of the Treasury Secretariat, who in turn maintains an employment relationship with Bancomext through an unpaid leave of absence. Public contracting records and the official letter issued by the Anticorruption and Good Government Secretariat establish that in 2025 Broxel obtained awards for the supply of electronic grocery vouchers from more than 150 federal agencies for up to 9,751 million pesos, and from the Mexico City government for up to 3,591 million pesos. Upon reviewing these contracts, it was confirmed that Broxel received overpayments and had refund demands for 29.4 million pesos. Faced with this situation, the company sought to obtain operating liquidity and requested a loan from the National Bank of Foreign Trade (Bancomext) for 4,200 million pesos, which was blocked by the Corruption Prevention and Continuous Improvement unit of the Anticorruption Secretariat. According to the investigations, before joining the Treasury, Miguel Sergio was deputy director general at Bancomext (2019-2021). When he moved to the SHCP he requested an unpaid leave of absence, which means he remains an active employee of that bank — exactly where Broxel requested the loan. Miguel Sergio, brother of Broxel's legal representative, is one of the highest-level officials within the Expenditures Subsecretariat of the SHCP, and it was precisely the Treasury that organized the consolidated mega-purchase of grocery vouchers for more than 200 entities, from which Broxel projects more than 60% of its future business portfolio (estimated at 32,296 million pesos). Adding to the investigation is official letter 223/DGPCMC/352/2026, in which José Juan García Estrada, director general of Corruption Prevention and Continuous Improvement at the Anticorruption Secretariat, acknowledged that during 2025 Broxel entered into contracts with more than 150 public entities to provide the service of supplying electronic grocery vouchers for year-end. He detailed that these contracts were awarded "under conditions different from those it had offered, receiving public funds that did not correspond to it. The company received overpayments to the detriment of the public treasury (sic) that it has not yet returned in full. Despite the demands made by the institutions; the refund to 39 entities of the federal public administration is currently pending, for approximately 29.4 million pesos," he stated. The document specifies that the failure to return amounts paid in excess, as well as entering into contracts under conditions different from those offered, "could be considered violations of the Public Sector Acquisitions, Leasing and Services Law, which is why an investigation was initiated in this secretariat." In an attempt to settle its debts, Broxel sought operating liquidity through a 4,200 million peso loan, which it requested from Bancomext. That request opened the way to an analysis of its legal and economic situation, which resulted in the loan's rejection due to the risk that the company could be disqualified and left without access to resources to pay. "Part of the income of Servicios Broxel, S. A. P. I. de C. V., derives from the contracts entered into with the federal public administration, which in 2025 represented a minimum of 6,928.7 million pesos and a maximum of 9,751 million pesos. Likewise, with Mexico City, a minimum of 1,795 million pesos and a maximum of 3,591 million pesos, so part of its income depends on public contracts being awarded to it and, considering what is stated in the preceding point, there is no guarantee that this will be the case, which should be considered a risk to the company's ability to pay," the analysis states. The official letter, issued on November 10, explained that, due to the ongoing investigations, Broxel could be barred from obtaining new contracts. "The proceedings are underway and could conclude with the imposition of the sanctions provided for in the aforementioned law, including the impossibility of new public contracts being awarded to the company, so under these conditions its financial capacity in that area could not be guaranteed," the document details. The conclusions reiterated that Broxel is subject to an administrative proceeding and is being investigated for the improper receipt of public funds and the failure to make refunds, among other things, which is why granting the loan would imply risks and possible harm for Bancomext. "If it were to conclude with sanctioning resolutions, it would prevent it from participating in contracting procedures, and given the ties of the company's legal representative to the aforementioned public servant, this oversight body considers it unviable to authorize the credit request at hand, in order to safeguard the interests of that development banking institution as a parastatal entity of the federal public administration, and seeking to prevent the concentration of risks associated with the company from being transferred to the federal government." Norma Julieta del Río, former commissioner of the INAI, warned that given Broxel's modus operandi — it allegedly received contracts amid conflicts of interest — "perhaps we are facing a network similar to the INE's." "It cannot be a coincidence that there are so many contracts. The company has already spoken out and says the contracts were obtained through legal means, and of course, they can argue that everything was done under a proper tendering process, and perhaps if we check it will turn out that way, but who guarantees us that there was no influence peddling and illicit use of authority? That is also codified in the Federal Code (...) we can note that perhaps we are facing a network similar to the INE's, because it is not only what has just been discovered with Bancomext; this company has contracts with a great many institutions of the federal government," she specified. The expert in transparency and anticorruption matters said that "once again," investigative journalism has come to uncover something that apparently was covered up. "EL UNIVERSAL revealed that Broxel cards were distributed to Morena deputies and they have still not clarified which budget line that money comes from. Thanks to you we are learning about these corruption facts, and, I insist, perhaps we are facing another network, and there several questions arise: How many more networks are there in this country on these issues? Do we need investigative journalists to be doing the authorities' job?" she said. She explained that if the conflict of interest is proven, "the Treasury official can be sanctioned and even removed from the post with a disqualification." She detailed that Broxel would no longer be sanctioned because it already has various sanctions. What would proceed, she pointed out, "is for it to be disqualified and placed on a registry where you cannot participate in public contracting, depending on the offense, from three months to 10 years." 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