The Justice sentenced to six years in prison Mariano Bruera, brother of the former mayor of La Plata Pablo Bruera, for irregularities in the land authorizations that were later derived to the Procrear planand for collecting votes from councilors. The defence will appeal the judgement of the first instance.
The Oral Criminal Court II of La Plata imposed on Mariano Bruera a sentence of 6 years in prison and 10 years of disqualification for the exercise of public function, so they validated the request that had been raised by the prosecutor of La Plata trial, Victoria Huergo.
Bruera's lawyers said they will appeal the lower court's ruling.
In addition to the brother of the former mayor, the former Secretary of Public Management, Enrique Sette, was convicted: they gave him eight years in prison, since they added charges for "illegal exactions" and "passive bribery." Meanwhile, Gustavo Petró, director of Planning, was acquitted.
For his part, businessman Gustavo Orlandi received a three-year prison sentence, since he was found guilty of "active bribery," that is, paying bribes.
The case dates back to April 2014, when an official of the municipality of La Plata asked a construction businessman for $200,<> to authorize a real estate project. The price included the green light for a rezoning and subsequent subdivision of a property on the outskirts of the Buenos Aires capital.
The investigation reached the depths of local political power, including Mariano Bruera, brother of the mayor of La Plata between 2007 and 2015.
The convicted person worked in the Interjurisdictional Relations sector of the municipality, but the wiretaps recorded a conversation with another businessman. "I'll call you to do a review to pass the cap," he said according to the recording authorized by the Justice.
Mariano Bruera in his first release, after spending a week detained for this cause. Photo Mauricio Nievas, archive
Mariano Bruera and the tariff of the files
The Prosecutor's Office showed that the organization had all the files priced to facilitate the rezoning of real estate that would later be derived to the Procrear plan. These were properties of 4, 5 or 10 hectares that needed special treatment in the Deliberative Council, to then be marketed as lots for individuals who obtained credits for housing construction.
For this reason, Mariano Bruera had already been in prison twice. First, in January 2017 he spent a week in detention and was released by a Cassation ruling, with the signature of the chamber presided over by Martín Ordoqui, a magistrate who was later dismissed and arrested for influence peddling and illicit association.
In July of that year he returned to prison, where he spent two years until he was granted an extraordinary release with a bail of one million pesos.
DS
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