Lab Equipment Company Connected to "Los Chapitos" Had Contracts Worth $2 Million with Mexican Governments
Sumilab, based primarily in Culiacán, Sinaloa, sells chemical products and laboratory equipment. |
One of the Mexican companies sanctioned by the United States on May 9, 2023, has been revealed to be a supplier to both state and federal governments. Between 2018 and 2022, the Sinaloa state government, then headed by Quirino Ordaz Coppel, now Mexico’s ambassador to Spain, awarded the company contracts for 14.7 million pesos, or $835,000.
According to 71 invoices published by the Government of Sinaloa on the National Transparency Platform, these purchases were made primarily through and for the Culiacán Hospital and the Sinaloan Institute of Educational Physical Infrastructure. Both the current government of Rubén Rocha Moya and former governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel declined to answer or comment when contacted by news outlet El Pais.
Sumilab S.A. Company History
According to the Sumilab website, they are a 100% Mexican-owned company with more than 33 [34] years of experience. Sumilab purports to specialize in the production and distribution of substances, equipment, and materials for all types of laboratories. The website lists and offers for sale various chemical, agricultural safety, and laboratory equipment, materials, and test supplies. For e-commerce sales from the website, the company only accepts PayPal payment methods.
We are a 100% Mexican company with more than 33 years of experience in the commercialization and distribution of products, equipment, and materials for all types of research, industrial, educational, clinical, agricultural, and aquaculture laboratories. We have the support of the most important and prestigious brands in the international laboratory equipment market, which allows us to offer our clients a portfolio with a wide range of options and proposals to meet their needs. At SUMILAB we care about providing you with the best service at all times, always striving for quality and efficiency in each of our processes, which is why our staff is highly trained to help and guide our clients in any decision-making process.
SUMILAB Company Statement
Sumilab was featured in Bien Informados magazine in 2015 interviewing General Manager Victor Andre Favela Lopez. |
Information on the company’s founding comes from an interview with Bien Informada magazine in its September 2015 issue, with Victor Andre Favela Lopez, the General Manager of Sumilab. According to the article, Sumilab provides services and products of laboratory equipment and materials for the areas of research, institutional, government, school, industry, and agriculture. Expansion of the company occurred in 1995, first to Culiacán; then in 1996 to Los Mochis, and in 2003 to Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo, Sonora in 2005.
The Sinaloan firm’s main sales areas are research and innovation, and in recent years its market has been more focused on agricultural companies, since they have to be certified, and Sumilab supports them with the necessary instruments. “We have had a lot of growth in the agricultural sector since there is a boom in agricultural research,” Victor says.
Sumilab displaying at the American Fisheries Society trade show in 2012 |
Sumilab displaying at the Expo Agro trade show in 2020 |
Culiacan Sumilab in June 2009
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Culiacan Sumilab in May 2020
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Sonora Location
Sumilab in Hermosilla, Sonora |
Mazatlan Location
Mazatlan Sumilab in 2009
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Mazatlan Sumilab in 2014
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Sumilab/Storelab in Mazatlan in June 2022
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Storelab, SA de CV
Sumilab company page |
Government Sales & Contracts
According to contracts and invoices registered in Mexico’s National Transparency Platform, the Government of Sinaloa acquired chemicals and laboratory material to equip the Civil Hospital of Culiacán and several state universities, including the Technological University of Culiacán and the Polytechnic University of Valle del Évora, located in Guamúchil, Sinaloa. Some of the equipment sold included reagents, filters, acetates, materials, accessories, and laboratory supplies, including convection ovens and microscopes.
Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office Purchases
According to the information available on the National Transparency Portal, Sumilab has been a provider of the State Attorney General’s Office since 2017, when it was directed by Juan José Ríos Estavillo, and at least until September 2022, already under the command of Sara Bruna Quiñónez.
Sinaloa Health Services & Hospitals
The information published in the PNT shows that Sinaloa Health Services have had Sumilab as a regular provider since 2015 when Mario López Valdez was governor.
The more than 400 contracts that Sumilab has received have been under all schemes: bidding, direct award, and invitation. And among the products purchased are face masks, hair caps, chemical products such as potassium hydroxide, alcohol, microtome knives, disposable blades, pathology supplies, latex gloves, and all kinds of chemical, pharmaceutical, and laboratory material, with varied amounts, the largest being more than 100 thousand pesos.
During the administration of Rocha Moya, the Sinaloa Health Services directed first by Héctor Melesio Cuen Ojeda and later by Cuitláhuac González Galindo, have maintained Sumilab as an important supplier, even when purchases are for small amounts, they were constant month after month.
For his part, Israel Martínez, Director of the Culiacán Civil Hospital between 2019 and 2021 confirmed the purchases made from the company linked to Los Chapitos but emphasized that no chemical substances were purchased, only laboratory material. “Such operations were carried out based on the [contract] awards processes stipulated in the law, according to a purchasing committee to which [the firm] submitted itself for approval,” he clarifies.
University of Sonora contract order |
Universities
Andrés Castro was director of the Sinaloan Institute of Educational Physical Infrastructure (ISIFE) between January 2017 and May 2019, when Sumilab was given the first contract valued at 700,000 pesos ($40,000). Castro assured that during his tenure, ISIFE carried out contracting procedures in accordance with legal regulations and asserted that the participants complied with the requirements established in the bidding process. He says that he was unaware that the company was being investigated by the United States.
When Castro left ISIFE in 2019, former Sinaloa Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel appointed his then-Secretary of Sustainable Development as the head of the institution. Ruelas signed the documents with Sumilab when the acquisitions were made for 12 million pesos, or $680,000.
Federal & Other State Governments
The same is true of the federal government: before 2018, the only entity at the federal level that had contracts with the company linked to Los Chapitos was the Administration and Investment Trust to support scientific research and technological development at the National Institute of Forestry Research, Agricultural, and Livestock, which depends on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), formerly known as the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA).
Sanction Implications
Source: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2023/05/lab-equipment-company-connected-to-los.html
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