VILLAHERMOSA. — Senator Adán Augusto López Hernández violated the Notary Law of the state of Tabasco by receiving payments for his services as a notary while a leave of absence he had requested from notarial duties to work in public service was still in effect, according to lawyers.
López Hernández said last Friday that he received 79 million pesos in 2023 and 2024 for work carried out as head of Public Notary Office No. 27.
He had previously also requested a leave of absence as notary when he served as a local and federal deputy, as well as the first time he became senator. He was then granted leave again during later years when he assumed, first, the governorship, and six years later, his current post as senator of the Republic.
Te podría interesar
In issue No. 7945 of the Official Gazette of Tabasco, published October 27, 2018, an agreement was made public granting him consecutive leave to remain “temporarily separated” from notarial functions, effective December 1, 2018, through September 30, 2024, as he was to serve as governor.
ALSO READ: Assassin from CCH Sur: homicidal ideas and a life under bullying, the IMSS diagnosis
Six years later, in issue No. 8557 of the Official Gazette, dated September 7, 2024, another agreement was published by substitute governor Carlos Manuel Merino Campos, granting a “leave to temporarily separate from the exercise of notarial functions” to Adán Augusto López Hernández, from December 2018 to September 2024, since he would assume the governorship of Tabasco.
Legal experts Francisco López Méndez, Doctor of Law, and Sergio Antonio Reyes, former president of the State Bar Association, agreed that the Morena senator should face an administrative process to have his notarial license revoked, in accordance with the provisions of the Notary Law.
Context: last Friday, in a press conference, López Hernández, president of the Senate’s Political Coordination Board, responded to a journalistic investigation by Televisa that revealed transfers from two companies amounting to 79 million pesos that were not included in his asset declaration.
One of those companies was included by the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in the list of firms that simulate operations and are used for money laundering.
The former governor of Tabasco held a press conference after President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that he should explain the inconsistency in his wealth.
What does the law say?
Article 27 of the Notary Law states that notarial duties are incompatible with any job, office, or public commission from the Federation, the State, or municipalities for which a salary or remuneration is received.
They are also incompatible “with jobs or commissions from private individuals; with performing judicial mandates; with practicing law when the act or matter is related to contentious cases sponsored or formerly sponsored as attorney or representative; (and) with activities as a stockbroker, commission agent, or commercial broker.”
Therefore, Article 28 of the Law allows notaries to hold a position incompatible with notarial duties, but they “must first obtain leave from the head of the State Executive Branch, with the respective agreement being issued and published in the Official Gazette.”
Since 2007, when López Hernández first held elected office as a local deputy, he had to request leave from the notarial license granted to him in 1994 by then-governor Manuel Gurría Ordóñez, with whom he had worked as deputy secretary of Government.
He later served as federal deputy, senator, governor, Secretary of the Interior, and once again senator.
“The most successful notary”
Last Friday, September 26, López Hernández admitted that the millions added to his assets in 2023 corresponded to professional fees for notarial services.
ALSO READ: Fuel theft network in Profeco reached an Interior Ministry official
“They hire me because, modesty aside, I’m the most successful notary in the history of Tabasco, without disparaging my colleagues,” boasted the licensed Notary Public No. 23 of Tabasco.
Jurists Francisco López Méndez and Sergio Antonio Reyes Ramos argue that it is clear López Hernández broke the Notary Law by receiving millions in income, as he himself confessed, from notarial activities.
Adán vs. Adán
This Tuesday in the Senate, López Hernández reversed his statements made Friday and Monday. In his first press conference, he acknowledged receiving 79 million pesos from two companies for notarial services and said he paid a little over one million pesos in taxes.
On Monday, he claimed he paid more in taxes, clarifying that the million he referred to was only his latest partial payment.
This Tuesday, he said his income mainly comes from cattle sales, although in none of his conferences did he specify how much money he earned from that activity.
On Monday, he detailed that in 2023 he received:
- 20,556,000 pesos from business and professional activity
- 3,103,000 pesos from rentals
- 1,113,000 pesos from salaries
- 1,179,000 pesos from interest
- Total: 25,951,000 pesos
In 2024, his income was:
- 54,177,000 pesos from business or professional activity
- 3,493,000 pesos from rentals
- 3,131,000 pesos from interest
- 887,495 pesos from salaries
- Total: 61,682,000 pesos
djh