Alejandro Alfie
07/08/2020 - 9:30
- Clarín.com
- Politics
The federal judge of Lomas de Zamora, Juan Pablo Auge, involved Silvia Majdalani in the prosecution that he dictated on the former director of Special Operations of the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), Alan Ruiz, for having carried out illegal espionage at the Patria Institute and the address of the then senator and current vice president Cristina Kirchner.
Judge Auge issued a very harsh prosecution against Alan Ruiz, 97 pages long , in the case characterized as "breach of the duties of a public official and ideological falsification of a public instrument", to which Clarín had access . There, the magistrate maintained that Ruiz had an "informal" position within the AFI, which he reported directly to the undersecretary of Intelligence, Silvia Majdalani, to whom he reported "reports" of "intelligence and illegal espionage."
Judge Auge took charge of the case last week, when the Federal Chamber of La Plata displaced Federico Villena from the investigation after the judge's allegations of bias in that file. On that occasion, the Chamber said that Villena was the one who ordered the wiretaps that were used to carry out illegal espionage activities against politicians, and for that reason could not investigate that cause.
Now, Auge highlighted the relationship between Ruiz and Majdalani, in line with what was stated by the prosecutor Cecilia Incardona. "The defendant did not respect the hierarchical structure of the organizational chart of that agency and that his actions divided and broke the institutionally established scheme, breaking with the established chain of command, since on many occasions he acted above his superiors, given that he had a direct link with who was then the AFI Undersecretary, Silvia Majdalani , also known in AFI jargon as 'number 8' or 'la 8', "said Auge. In this sense, the judge highlighted the "direct and trustworthy link between Alan Ruiz and Silvia Majdalani".
The judge stated that Ruiz, at least between May and December 2018, coordinated "together with other people, a group made up of organic and inorganic agents from the AFI Counterintelligence area, dedicated to carrying out intelligence tasks and illegal espionage , which they consisted of carrying out surveillance, observations, obtaining information, producing intelligence, storing data and generating reports on different people simply by virtue of their political, social, union and / or cultural affiliation. "
The group that Ruiz coordinated was made up of AFI agents Emiliano Matta, Facundo Melo, Leandro Araque, Jorge Sáez, Mercedes Funes Silva, Buki and Belén, among others, where Ruiz was "in charge of ordering them to carry out illegal intelligence tasks. study". In turn, there were three other people who "were preparing the reports" made by these agents, "identified as Andrea, Denise Astaris and Jorge Otamendi," said Judge Auge.
In the judicial file, the magistrate assured that the agents "had to observe and watch in the places indicated by Alan Ruiz, in order to detect if things were taken or removed, if there were any changes, if bags, backpacks, documentation and / or or money, as well as whether these two homes received such objects or carried out these activities, that is, such tasks were never intended to detect possible attacks or threats against the victim, nor were they carried out within the framework of prevention tasks for the events called G 20 and the Youth Olympic Games, "Auge said in the file. And he added that the protection function of a former president is not the responsibility of the AFI, since it is a "police task" that should be coordinated with the "agents who were guarding her."
The judge highlighted as one of the collected evidence the one that was broadcast on his television program by the journalist Rolando Graña, where in one of the audios Ruiz revealed that intelligence operations against the Patria Institute and the home of Cristina Kirchner had been laundered, in a case that had the judge Federico Villena the "espionage tasks that they had carried out outside the law, and that are investigated here," said Auge.
The magistrate argued that when his illegal activities were discovered, Ruiz attempted to give "the appearance of legality to those prohibited activities." And to achieve this, "they elaborated, initialed and used ideologically false documents simulating that this activity had been carried out pursuant to investigation orders received in judicial cases." The former AFI members in the administration of Mauricio Macri, Gustavo Arribas and Silvia Majdalani also participated in this task.
For this reason, he summoned Arribas and Majdalani to an investigative statement for next Sunday and Monday, about which the judge suspects that "they participated in the commission of criminal acts investigated in this case." He also cited for the same reason the former head of Counterintelligence, Martín Coste, for Friday this week. And he asked the AFI intervener, Cristina Caamano, for the "lifting of the secret that those named must keep", within the framework of the Intelligence Law.
Like all AFI agents, who are listed under a different name so that their identity is not revealed, former agent Ruiz was listed as Augusto Rovero on the Presidential pay stubs, for his work in the intelligence services. His position was that of director of Special Operations, within the area of AFI's Operational Counterintelligence Directorate. A charge that "was not formally on the organization chart that the AFI had at that time," said Judge Auge. And he added that there was also no administrative appointment "to endorse him in that position", which showed the level of irregularity that his participation in the intelligence agency had.
The magistrate prosecuted Ruiz on Tuesday, locked him a $ 500,000 embargo, granted him the benefit of his "immediate freedom" and ordered that he not leave the country while the judicial case is substantiated. The release was because although his participation in illegal espionage activities was proven, he considered that "the grounds for presumption of escape or obstruction of the present investigation would not be given," according to the file to which Clarín had access .