The Government of Mexico targets the luxuries and riches of La Luz del Mundo

A religious act of La Luz del Mundo, in Guadalajara (Mexico) .Leonardo Álvarez

Illicit enrichment.

Money laundering.

Transfers to tax havens.

Purchase of luxury goods and services.

These are the warning signs that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Mexico has detected about the La Luz del Mundo church and the basis of five complaints that it has filed this week with the Attorney General's Office.

The UIF follows the trail of "unusual financial movements", government sources have confirmed to EL PAÍS, and has opened a new legal front against the religious organization led by Naasón Joaquín García, awaiting trial in California for 32 crimes, such as abuse of minors and possession of child pornography.

The UIF case against La Luz del Mundo questions that the church of Naasón Joaquín is in fact a religious non-profit organization.

"[These religious groups] execute legal acts with eminently lucrative purposes through the national financial system, which represents an inconsistency, given their nature," reads a statement from this office, which depends on the Ministry of Finance.

The authorities abound in that their constitution as religious associations allows them to evade the scrutiny of the treasury and pay less taxes in several countries.

The press release, which does not refer directly to this church, details that these organizations obtain financial resources for a series of investments and that afterwards they do not declare the income to the Treasury.

He also points them out for making bank transfers for large amounts, without being able to identify the relationship they have with the recipients, an accusation that has been pointed out as money laundering by the local press.

It further accuses that money is being moved to "countries classified as tax havens", either to individuals or companies for "significant" amounts.

The payment of credit cards and the acquisition of luxury or armored cars are other movements that the FIU questions as not in accordance with a non-profit organization.

It is also noted that properties are bought below their market value so as not to arouse suspicion after operations.

"[These associations] are vulnerable to misuse by criminal groups including terrorists, as they are often subject to very little oversight by the authorities," the statement said.

"They have failed to inform the tax authority about their income and therefore have generated wealth illegally, placing them in a case of commission of tax crimes and operations with resources of illicit origin", it is added.

“How many humiliations, how many ridicules, how many offenses, how many mockery we have had to endure!

The public derision, the one that makes fun of me or the church, the media lynching ”, says Joaquín García, in a message broadcast last weekend by the church spokesmen.

"And it is that when the days are difficult and it is very likely that they become even more complicated, it is because a great blessing is coming," said the religious leader, known as the Apostle of Jesus Christ by his followers, about his trial in the United States, scheduled to start on January 6.

EL PAÍS sought out one of the spokesmen for La Luz del Mundo to establish a position on this latest accusation, but has not received a response.

It is not the first clash between the FIU and La Luz del Mundo, which was founded in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in 1926 and claims to have more than five million faithful in around 60 countries.

Last March, the office that prosecutes financial crimes froze accounts and assets of the church worth almost 390 million pesos (more than 19 million dollars).

The announcement of the financial sanctions came at the same time that an investigation into human trafficking within the church was made public by the Prosecutor's Office.

"The case has to do with the blocking of six people related to a religious group where there were donations that were given to the church and a practice of child pornography and exploitation of a sexual nature," said Santiago Nieto, head of the UIF.

The Mexican government, however, has been cryptic about the progress of the investigations, which led to a pronouncement by opposition deputies last August.

Joaquín has been singled out on multiple occasions for his burdensome lifestyle and for having assets valued in the tens of millions, according to the accusation against him in California and journalistic investigations.

The judicial summary cites trips in private planes, long shopping marathons in Beverly Hills stores and buildings with details of columns in gold.

Sources who belonged to the top and left the church also criticize that La Luz del Mundo "does not pay salaries or taxes" to the lower hierarchy of the organization, and that the flow of tithes has not stopped despite the imprisonment of the so-called apostle.

Despite the accusations in court, an investigation by this newspaper found that the religious group received between 350,000 and a million dollars in aid from the Donald Trump government last June for the pandemic. The leadership of the church defends the honor and innocence of its leader, who has been behind bars for more than a year and has a bail set at more than 90 million dollars.