Mexican federal judge Advento Hernández Reyna has granted a definitive and indefinite suspension of the arrest warrant issued in April against Alejandro Irarragorri, president of Orlegi Sports and former president of Club Santos Laguna. The resolution implies the continuation of the proceedings opened as a result of the amparo appeal filed by the businessman’s legal team.
According to the newspaper Reforma, the judge also decided that no preventive imprisonment measure will be executed, in case it is ordered at the time of the appearance of the executive before the Control Judge in Torreón. The criminal complaint, filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, refers to an alleged tax fraud of approximately US$700,000, an accusation that has been strongly denied by both Alejandro Irarragorri and Club Santos.
On April 25, the lagoon institution issued a statement in which it explained that the court order against it had originated in an alleged failure of Alejandro Irarragorri to attend a hearing scheduled by District Judge Luis Alfredo Mendoza García, in Torreón, Coahuila. However, according to the same communication, such interpretation is inaccurate.
The legal position of Alejandro Irarragorri and Santos Laguna
The press release clarified that, on Thursday, March 20, Alejandro Irarragorri did participate in a virtual hearing, which was attended in due time and form. During that proceeding, however, the judge decided to suspend it unexpectedly and reschedule it for Monday, March 24. The defense argues that the rescheduling was not duly notified, so that no deliberate fault can be attributed to the manager that would justify the adoption of precautionary measures. A few weeks later, his team filed a writ of amparo before the federal courts.
Judge Hernández Reyna considered that there are no elements that indicate Irarragorri‘s intention to evade the process, so he ordered that his appearance be made by videoconference, thus ensuring compliance with due process.
In addition, the court emphasized that there is not sufficient legal basis to impose preventive detention before evaluating the defense’s arguments in detail. As Reforma points out, this position reinforces the conviction that Alejandro Irarragorri has shown willingness to collaborate with the authorities. The judicial body also stressed that it would be inappropriate to anticipate punishments against a public figure linked to an institution such as Santos Laguna, with a recognized trajectory in Mexican soccer.
The Attorney General’s Office initiated the investigation in 2023, at the request of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), which resulted in a criminal complaint against Irarragorri and Club Santos. However, the conflict has its roots in 2020, when tax audits were initiated on the Club’s Income Tax returns.
Since then, the procedure had developed as a dispute of an administrative nature, resulting from differences of criteria regarding the interpretation of the tax regulations in force, until the Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint at the request of the SAT. The Club has maintained, from the beginning, that this is a technical matter that must be resolved in administrative and other judicial instances.
Santos reiterated this position in the latest communiqué, as it states that the disagreement with the SAT “can and should be resolved through appropriate institutional channels, without the need to judicialize a conflict of tax interpretation”.
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