The latest round of investigations into the Notebooks of Corruption case has seen President Mauricio Macri’s brother and father called in for questioning by Judge Claudio Bonadio.
Since August 1, it has been revealed that numerous former Kirchner-era politicians and businessmen were involved in a country-wide bribery scandal supposedly led by ex-presidents Cristina and Nestor Kirchner.
Franco and Gianfranco Macri, the president’s father and brother respectively, have been called in for questioning by Bonadio to take place on December 13, reported Perfil. At the same hearing will be Marcelino Aznar of the anonymous society Decavial, Gerardo Ferreyra of the Electroingeniería firm and Eduardo Eurnekián of the Corporación Corporación.
The case is related to supposed illegal money handling in relation to the Organisation of Control for Road Concessions (Occovi), where individuals exploited the toll booths of the motorways to collect illegal funds.
They will all be investigated for “illegal amounts gathered by the head of Occovi and brought by the heads of the road concessions,” Bonadio explained.
Todo Noticias reported that Franco and Gianfranco owned seven percent of the company Autopistas del Sol, but they sold their share in May. They are being investigated for allegedly having paid bribes in order to secure contracts to complete two stretches of autorvia.
The information garnered to bring the two Macris in for questioning came from detained collaborator Claudio Uberti, reported El Destape. Uberti was the former manager of Ocovvi, and affirmed that he received a sum of money from businesses every month, and he also affirmed that “Nestor and Cristina [Kirchner] knew what was happening.”
This round of investigations will be prolonged until December 27, when former Minister of Planning Julio De Vido and former Secretary of Transport Ricardo Jaime, who are both already detained, will be questioned further. This wide-reaching corruption scandal has been called the Lava Jato of Argentina and has unveiled the scope of corruption in both businesses and politics during the Kirchner era.
