I recently confirmed the "purchase" of military service cards by JWs in Mexico from talking to Nestor Kuilan (ex-CO and ex-missionary mentioned in Ray's book). The Governing Body basically looked the other way and simply made it a "conscience matter" while JWs in Malawi were being raped, slaughtered and tortured for refusing to buy a political party card. When word spread about this, it made many JWs uncomfortable in Mexico and Brooklyn Bethel, but the manipulation by Freddy Franz was so effective that nearly everyone dismissed it as theocratic warfare.
And yes... The reason the GB looked the other away is because they didn't want to create any waves or draw attention from the government so they could continue to purchase and flip real estate as a non-religious entity throughout Mexico. It was always about money.