02/13/2020 - 13:50
- Clarín.com
- Politics
By order of federal judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, the Federal Police carried out raids on Thursday at the offices of the concessionaires of the Pan-American and Western motorways, in the framework of the investigation for alleged irregularities in the renegotiation of tolls contracts with the national State during the macrismo, judicial sources informed.
Specifically, the operations are carried out in five units of the Autopistas del Sol concession companies (Ausol) and the Concessionaires of the West Group (West Access) . In addition to the headquarters of the firms, in the Buenos Aires downtown, justice was also presented at the headquarters of Ausol in San Isidro and the Concessionaires of the West in Ituzaingó. The fifth search was carried out at the home of Natal Inversiones, minority partner of Ausol.
In the case, which began after a complaint by the Kirchner deputies Rodolfo Tailhade and Leopoldo Moreau , are accused, among others, former President Mauricio Macri, and former ministers Guillermo Dietrich and Nicolás Dujovne.
Lawmakers asked to investigate the conditions under which both companies agreed to renounce their millionaire claims to the State before the International Center for Settlement of Differences (ICSID) of the World Bank, for alleged breaches of contracts by successive governments.
In return, Autopistas del Sol managed to extend the concession until 2030, and pay 499 million dollars for "investments made not amortized." The agreement was with the Spanish firm Albertis SA, controller of Ausol and former partner of Sideco, the company of the Macri family. until 2017.
Tailhade and Moreau denounced that on December 7, 2015, three days before the beginning of the Cambiemos government, Albertis filed a claim for ICSID $ 1.1 billion. According to deputies K, that demand would then have been used as an argument by the Macri government to renegotiate the concession.
The complainants also claim that National Road Attorney Julieta Ripolli would have quit her job for refusing to endorse the alleged irregularities.