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ARGENTINA-ECONOMY-BUSINESS-CORRUPTION
Corruption scandal in Argentina fells titans of business
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Records kept in notebooks of the
kinds used by schoolchildren are bringing down titans of Argentina’s industry
in a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal.
Dirty dealings are nothing new in Argentina.
What sets this case apart is the large number of people going down —
around 20 so far, with additional names surfacing regularly — and their
high-flying status in the business world.
The scandal involves under-the-table payments to the governments of Nestor
and Cristina Kirchner, the Peronist couple who ruled before the current
president, Mauricio Macri.
One big mystery is whether the money went to enrich government officials
personally or was helped finance election campaigns.
Investigative Magistrate Claudio Bonadio is raising eyebrows by
aggressively ordering the arrest and questioning of so many business leaders,
from both ends of the political spectrum in Argentina. Most of the arrests
happened on August 1.
“It is not the first time that major businessmen have gone to jail. What
is new is the number and the reason,” said Sergio Morresi, a political
scientist at San Martin National University.
– Tycoons under arrest –
Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli has said bribes paid in the so called
“corruption copybooks” case total $160 million.
Bonadio began jailing tycoons after the publication of the records by
Oscar Centeno, who worked as a driver for the deputy planning and public
works minister Roberto Baratta.
In these notebooks, Centeno meticulously recorded the alleged receipt of
sacks of money from 2005 to 2015.
The whistleblower had been expelled from the army for bad behavior.
“There is no doubt that the copybooks describe in detail the way in which
the Kirchners raised money illegally for seven years without any alarm going
off at any oversight agency,” said Nicolas Solari of the consultancy
Poliarquia.
MORE/HR/0938
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ARGENTINA-ECONOMY-BUSINESS-CORRUPTION 2 LAST BUENOS AIRES
So far, eight business leaders have confessed and struck plea-bargain
deals.
Angelo Calcaterra, a cousin of Macri, acknowledged having ordered the
payment of cash requested as a bribe in order to receive government
contracts.
Testifying before the judge, he said he thought this was a mandatory
election campaign contribution.
Leaders of big multinational companies such as Argentina’s Techint and
Isolux of Spain have paid a visit to Bonadio’s office.
“The indictment and arrest of business leaders is new, and considering the
unpopularity and impunity that big business people enjoy, it will probably be
well received by public opinion,” said sociologist Ricardo Rouvier.
– Privileged –
Morresi, the political scientist, said “one possible result is real
progress in transparency and criminal convictions.”
The Buenos Aires stock market has taken a hit with the arrests.
Alberto Fernandez, who served as chief of staff to the late Nestor
Kirchner, has complained that only business leaders who supported the
Kirchners and their leftist Peronist governments have ended up behind bars —
not those close to the current, conservative Macri government.
A dozen or so people from the planning and public works ministry have gone
before the judge — though they have not yet been charged over the case —
and Cristina Kirchner’s turn comes Monday. She now holds a seat as a senator.
Ex-planning minister Julio de Vido and his deputy Jose Lopez have been in
prison for corruption since 2017 and 2016, respectively.
They managed the federal government’s public works projects under the
Kirchners and were the only two ministers to survive the various cabinet
reshuffles across the couple’s 12 years in power.
Lope was caught red-handed hiding 160 suitcases and duffel bags containing
$9 million in a convent with the help of a nun.
BSS/AFP/HR/0940