Marina Artusa
02/13/2020 - 18:37
- Clarín.com
- Society
Everything seems to indicate that, until the raid and the accusation of attacking Spanish public health, Argentines Gonzalo Scattini and Claudia Caballe were able to please even the most romantic ones: if a request had arrived, as surely would have happened in these days before Valentine's Day, I would not have been lazy to knead in Zaragoza and send the rest of Spain heart-shaped pizzas, as they promoted online.
The Argentine marriage that is accused of clandestinely making and marketing artisanal pizzas in 22 Spanish provinces lives in Azuara, a former Roman settlement now inhabited by fewer than a thousand neighbors still shocked by the complaint against the Argentine couple. The Zaragoza Civil Guard investigates them as alleged perpetrators of a crime against public health and tax evasion.
"We are a young family business , which since our first adventures in 2004 we have not stopped thinking about new formats, presentations and services in the gastronomic world and as particular as the world of pizza," said the Argentine marriage in the Pizzaragon website, the venture that on June 10, 2010 Scattini uploaded to his Facebook account and of which he has been director since 2002.
In an official statement, the Civil Guard of Zaragoza reported that on January 14, the Civil Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Civil Guard had been alerted to “the existence of pizzas elaborated and allegedly marketed clandestinely”.
Raid carried out at the Argentine marriage house, which was accused of crimes against public health.
Adds the statement that "it was found that this merchant sold, through advertising and sale on the Internet and through mobile phone, pizzas of various varieties and bases for pizzas, achieving the full identity of the commercial director."
Clarín found Gonzalo Scattini in Zaragoza. He declined to make statements. "You can consult my lawyer," he said.
Jorge Enciso Gómez, defender of Argentine pizzerias, spoke with this medium: “We are surprised by the impact that the subject is having. There is an open instruction on a series of facts that are attributed to my clients that must be proven, ”he said.
Raid on the house of the Argentine couple accused of secretly selling homemade pizzas in Zaragoza, Spain.
According to the investigation, between January 2019 and February this year, the pizzas allegedly prepared by the Argentine couple would have been sold to 50 establishments in 22 Spanish provinces, an amount that the authorities estimated at 12,000 kilos of merchandise that would have been distributed in vehicles of messaging that did not have adequate prophylaxis and refrigeration conditions .
"They are not detained because we are still studying what the true scope was in the distribution of the pizzas made clandestinely," sources from the Civil Guard of Zaragoza confirmed to Clarín .
For now, it is known that clandestine pizzas were sold to bars, restaurants, catering services, hotels, pizzerias, campsites, swimming pools, event organization companies and even individuals in Huesca, Alicante, Cádiz, Castellón, Gerona, Guadalajara, Huesca, Jaén, Lleida, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Navarra, Salamanca, Soria, Teruel, Valencia, Zamora and Zaragoza.
There was a raid and the Argentines were summoned to testify before the Civil Guard. "For that statement, they are formally detained but they did not testify," said the couple's lawyer. We arrived at 12 o'clock last Monday and at 12.30 pm we went out the door. There was no prison or dungeon . They were simply available to state forces. They were not present when the Civil Guard arrived with the entry order. Right now they are at home. They did not take away their passport or anything. ”
According to the lawyer, Argentines do not have dual citizenship, but have resided legally in Spain for many years.
The Provincial Sub-Directorate of Public Health of Zaragoza and the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) confirmed that in the town of Azuara, where the pizzas would have come from, there were no companies with these characteristics registered in the Sanitary Registry.
Raid on the house of the Argentine couple accused of secretly selling homemade pizzas in Zaragoza, Spain.
During the raid on the house on Calle Mayor de Azuara, the Civil Guard requisitioned an oven, a kneading machine, two work tables, two vacuum packing machines, two freezers, four refrigerators, labeling rolls, work trays, useful for the production of pizzas, pizzas packaging bags, isothermal bags for transport, raw material, as well as electronic and computer equipment.
"For now, we do not recognize any fact of which he is being accused," the lawyer confirmed to Clarin . My clients absolutely do not acknowledge having committed any criminal act . We are talking about a very small cabin, just 20 square meters, which was the one that examined the Civil Guard. We talked about a minimal production that had nothing to do with what is being said. ”
-There is, however, a web page where the service of elaboration and commercialization of artisanal pizzas is offered in which Gonzalo Scattini appears as commercial manager.
-I have no news of it. I cannot make any statement about my clients about something we have not yet answered in court.
-What did they do in the garage?
-Claudia owns a house in that locality and then there is a small place where they had stored a series of elements, several of the foods that have been sealed by the Police were of own consumption. Refrigerators have been sealed with various foods. They are five people at home and obviously have to have bunkers and refrigerators to keep the food. We are talking about a very small town where there is a very small trade and they had this food stored for their own consumption, far from the tons that are being attributed to them.
-What do you do?
-Claudia is unemployed, collecting unemployment benefits. She has worked as a cleaner and jobs that she has been able to find to support family burdens. Gonzalo was looking for any job. Right now he was out of work. They have three children. If they had been exploiting an industry of the magnitude that seems to be the one attributed to them, they would not have any economic problems and the economic situation that the family supports is quite precarious. They cannot be attributed to having a wholesale trade.
Some links leading to the Pizzaragon website were discharged. Clarín gave one that Gonzalo Scattini promoted from his social networks, where he highlighted having created the Aragonese pizza, with bacon and lamb, and the Wild, where the main ingredient was wild boar with mushrooms: “Our message is clear: 0% preservatives, 0% antioxidants, 0% artificial aromas, 100% handmade dough. The order is placed: it is produced, packaged and delivered to your business weekly. Be wary of the 'freshness' of export, ”he said regarding the quality of his pizzas.
Madrid. Correspondent.
DD