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They will investigate whether the government of Macri paid the repentant of the Ciccone case with a hotel

2020-02-06T22:49:22.148Z


Judge Casanello will investigate a complaint by his colleague Ariel Lijo, to find out if Alejandro Vandenbroele charged for his confession.


Claudio Savoia

02/06/2020 - 19:32

  • Clarín.com
  • Politics

The federal judge Ariel Lijo asked to investigate whether the government of Mauricio Macri "bought" with the payment of a boutique hotel the confession of Alejandro Vandenbroele, former head of former Vice President Amado Boudou and regretted the Ciccone case. His complaint was based on a journalistic publication that revealed reserved details of Vandenbroele's file as a member of the protected witness program of the Ministry of Justice.

Lijo was in charge of the investigation of the cause for which Boudou ended up being sentenced to five years and ten months in prison for the appropriation of the Ciccone printing press, the reduction of his large debts with the AFIP and his subsequent contracting with the State to print banknotes The magistrate also instructed the causes for the irregular contract of the province of Formosa with the company with which Boudou bought Ciccone, The Old Fund, and the organization to finance that purchase, a cause known as Ciccone II and which is still open.

Within the framework of these investigations, Lijo was the judge who in 2017 homologated Vandenbroele's confession as "imputed collaborator " in the Formosa case, which was still under his responsibility. Although the oral trial by Ciccone had just begun, the former vice-president's also provided data and documents that added to the evidence against Boudou.

This week, the news portal El Destape published a note suggesting that this confession could have been "bought" by the Macri government, through the Witness Protection Program to which Vandenbroele had joined.

Although the domicile, activities and names of the custodial personnel of the protected witnesses and defendants are secret , the publication included documentation according to which Vandenbroele would have requested 1.5 million pesos from the Program to finance the purchase of a hotel in Mendoza, and claimed that the repentant would have received at least part of the money he requested.

The note was quickly amplified by the lawyers of Boudou, Alejandro Rúa and Graciana Peñafort, who even anticipated that he would make a criminal complaint about it. “We knew there was something strange with Vandenbroele and now we see that for the Boudou prison he was paid with a hotel . It has been shown that the system of repentants was created by macrismo to persecute opponents, "Peñafort told reporters this week.

From jail, Boudou himself amplified the complaints, also by El Destape Radio : "What they have discovered, that they put a hotel in Vandenbroele, makes it more clear that we are political prisoners. The Vandenbroele thing is a scandal. It was clear that they bought a statement . "

"If the investigation continues, cases like Vandenbroele will appear in other cases , and that is why the media silence him," the former vice president continued. "Macri knew what was happening in the Witness Protection Program. When he wanted to go to the Chamber of Cassation it is because there are people who are willing to continue the persecution. ”

From macrismo, they are surprised with the complaint: "The Witness and Imputed Protection Program includes several security measures and expenses to relocate those who join it , including those that imply a new address - sometimes we have sent entire families abroad, for example- and the development of a new job, according to the abilities and desires of each person, "says a former official linked to the Ministry of Justice.

"This existed before we reached the government, and so it continues to happen now. From Garavano - former Minister of Justice - down, the officials do not know the fate and expenses that each of the people incorporated into the program, many times per request. of justice, "they insist.

"These payments are made with documented reserved expenses and whose destination is only known to the program administrator, just to maintain the safety of the repentant. Without knowing names, I can tell you that over the years the program paid expenses to open pizzerias, florists , remiserías, kiosks and gyms . This is how it always works, here and in most of the countries ", explains the former official, surprised by the diffusion of sensitive data that puts the security in this case of Vandenbroele at risk. "Let justice investigate thoroughly, of course," he concludes.


Source: clarin

All news articles on 2020-02-06

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