The most important question we have is “how did they get there?” They report that alleged “SEGALMEX” brand batteries or batteries are sold in stores and other businesses in Polanda country that is on the other side of the world.
“SEGALMEX” brand batteries are sold in Poland
According to an investigation of The country, alleged “SEGALMEX” brand batteries are sold in stores in Poland. Yes, this newspaper points out that these batteries were found, for example, in a supermarket in the city of Warsaw, in Eastern Europe, where they are sold in packages of eight pieces for 9.99 zlotys (more or less 43 pesos).
Faced with this extremely rare discovery, the Spanish media explains that these batteries they had to cross the entire Atlantic Ocean and travel more than 10 thousand kilometers from Mexico (by plane, boat and/or truck like Adelita) until reaching this European nation.
¿Marca “SEGALMEX”?
But what is most striking is the brand of these batteries that are sold in Poland, which they claim to be “SEGALMEX”… Yes, just like the social supply store Seguridad Alimentaria Mexicanawhich was created by the current government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
It is, then, of batteries that should be reaching the marginalized communities of Mexico… Why are they being sold in Poland? Well, according to El País, everything points to Ignacio Ovallewho directed the unit for the first three years of the six-year term of the Tabasco.
What is the origin of these batteries?
The newspaper explains that SEGALMEX bought these batteries around the end of 2019 from a Mexican company called Tempoel México SA de C.V.., for around 15 million pesos. And the acquisition was made through Diconsa, a subsidiary of Seguridad Alimentaria Mexicanas, as part of the Rural Supply Program.
Just in March of that year, the federal government decided that batteries should be considered a basic consumer productalong with foods such as meats, dairy products, grains, flours, bread and canned goods.
In fact, they point out that Tempoel, a subsidiary of the Spanish transnational company Tempel Group, did not deliver the full amount of batteries to the agency, despite the fact that SEGALMEX paid everything in advanceaccording to internal audits that the newspaper consulted.
And yes, according to the supplier, also consulted by El País, it did not deliver the entire order, but it blamed the federal agency, since it indicated that they they stopped receiving the batteries and forced them to keep them in storage even though they were about to expire.
How did they get to Poland?
The investigation carried out by Zedryk Raziel and Georgina Zerega indicates that the batteries sold in Poland, brand “SEGALMEX”, are marketed in Europe by the company Maxx10Group Sp. Zoowhich is dedicated to the purchase of goods in stock on a large scale.
It is just on their wholesale Internet sales page that they claim that they have about 40 thousand sets of batteries at a unit price of 0.2 euros (around four pesos).
Despite all this information, the newspaper is not clear if SEGALMEX agreed directly with Maxx10Group or if the Polish company obtained them from Tempoel; all this because the parties involved did not respond to the questions of El País.
Of course, they highlight that the agreement between SEGALMEX and Tempoel, on September 23, 2019, for the purchase of more than one million batteries, was signed by Xavier Sambola Franco, who directed the company at that time, and Manuel Lozano, who was commercial director of the federal agency and who, it should be noted, is currently being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) for another case of corruption..
SEGALMEX has already responded
Just this Friday, May 5, SEGALMEX shared a very brief statement in which they stated that they had already filed a complaint since July 2022 for this matter before the FGR, “The same that is in the process of investigation and integration”.
“The current administration of SEGALMEX is attentive to the results of the investigations and the application of justice by the corresponding authorities”, read in the bulletin.
