The scandalous insurance business that was uncovered by a
Clarín investigation
left Alberto Fernández in the crosshairs of Justice
for the (mis)management of a millionaire political black box that he himself enabled through a decree that bore his signature.
However, in the last few hours the former president appealed to a defense that he has already used on several occasions, almost as a kind of state policy during his administration,
the “I wasn't it” strategy.
On this occasion, by breaking the silence after being denounced for embezzlement of public funds, due to the dark negotiations in Anses with the contracting of insurance for retirees who took out loans and the million-dollar commissions that were paid to intermediaries close to power, Fernández tried to get away, although he left doubts about his secretary:
“I didn't ask for anyone, if she did, she overstepped her bounds
,” he said.
Alberto expressed that he "never" asked for the hiring of intermediaries who are close to him, such as Héctor Martínez Sosa - with whom Fernández had debts that were reflected in his sworn statements - but he was not so blunt when referring to his secretary María Cantero, wife of the aforementioned broker.
“I doubt she would do such a thing;
If she did it, I don't endorse it;
No one is going to tell you that I asked for someone;
I doubt it, but I can't guarantee that she hasn't done something like that;
If she was like that, she overstepped her bounds,” she told the newspaper La Nación.
Thus, the former president and current president of the PJ starred in a kind of argumentative deja vu in reaction to a new controversy surrounding his time at Casa Rosada and Quinta de Olivos.
The quarantine birthday scandal
Visits to the Quinta de Olivos for a birthday.
Precisely, perhaps one of the biggest scandals of his mandate
took place in the presidential residence
, when he celebrated the birthday of his partner, Fabiola Yáñez, in the midst of the mandatory isolation due to the Covid 19 pandemic, which he himself had decreed and prevented him from the entire population to hold social gatherings.
First a photo was known, which the Government came out to deny.
"The photo is fake, it has Photoshop," they said at Casa Rosada.
Then, given the overwhelming weight of the evidence and out of fear that the negative impact would be worse, the Government itself broadcast the video of the celebrations on July 14, 2020 on Public TV.
Video
.
In the middle of that, Alberto Fernández himself broke the silence and offloaded responsibility for everything that happened on his partner, Fabiola.
"On July 14, my dear Fabiola
's birthday
, she
called a meeting with her friends
and a toast that should not have been made, which I definitely realize should not have been made. And I regret that it happened. Clearly I regret it," he said.
"It won't happen again," promised Fernández, who said: "I don't act distracted by anything, not even the things that I overlook and sometimes do wrong, or the needs of every Argentine."
The President said at the time that Fabiola's birthday who violated the quarantine could come to light because he never hid anything and reported the list of people who entered Olivos daily.
The case of Taiwanese Chien Chia Hong
Chien and Sofía Pacchi, on both sides of the presidential couple on the day of Alberto Fernández's inauguration.
Precisely that list generated another scandal when it was learned that Sofia Pacchi, one of the characters who celebrated that night, and her then boyfriend, the Taiwanese businessman Chien Chia Hong, were regulars at Olivos in the midst of the restrictions.
The issue, beyond the recurring income to Olivos, was that the company Apache Solutions of Pacchi's Taiwanese boyfriend had won million-dollar tenders from the State.
That gave a boost to his business, which grew rapidly, to the point of obtaining 19 contracts in just one year after his meetings with Fernández.
But when that was revealed,
the President appealed to the usual recipe
.
"There was never a meeting with the businessman Chien Chia Hong. It is outrageous and regrettable to have to explain a lie. I don't even know his name, for me he is 'the Chinese'," he said.
"I have no idea what the opposition media is talking about. There is nothing worse than explaining something I haven't done, because it didn't happen. Chien Chia Hong must have won the contests legitimately. If he won them illegitimately, give me his name." of the official who benefited him and fired him immediately," he said and referred to him as Sofia Pacchi's boyfriend.
Olivos' records showed, however, that the Taiwanese businessman stayed, at least on one occasion, in the Presidential Fifth when his partner had already retired.
And it was on a special date:
the President's birthday
.
As
Clarín
revealed , that night in 2020 Pacchi and Hong arrived together at ten at night.
But, according to the official records of the Military House, Pacchi left at 0:11 - already in the early morning of April 3 - and Chien, at 2:58, almost three hours after his companion.
“The man they are talking about
is or has been Sofía Pacchi's partner
, who is someone who worked with Fabiola Yánez;
I must have seen her partner once or twice in my life, on some social occasion... what's more, I found out that a company had read the same note in which they tried to defame us," she said.
The President
even denied having celebrated his birthday
.
"There was never a meeting with Chien Chia Hong; in fact, on April 2 I did not celebrate my birthday... I think he came accompanying Sofía Pacchi for
an activity that Fabiola Yáñez had at Banco Nación
," he said.
VIP vaccination center
Alberto Fernández and Ginés González García in times of pandemic.
In a management marked by the pandemic, another scandal that ended up affecting the Albertista administration was the
VIP vaccination
, which culminated in the departure of the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, from the government.
On February 19, 2021,
Clarín
revealed that the official
had organized a secret vaccination operation in his ministry
for leaders and friends that he sought to keep under strict secrecy.
The event was strikingly admitted by journalist Horacio Verbitsky, one of those immunized, after
Clarín
's consultations with government officials who unofficially confirmed the existence of a vaccination center exclusively for friends of power, when the coronavirus wreaked havoc on society and vaccines were a scarce commodity.
There Fernandez's reaction was striking because on the one hand he fired Ginés, one of his most trusted ministers, but days later he said that there had been no crime, that the complaints were an antics and that a "media scenario of ridicule" was being set up. public".
"It was an exceptional event that cannot be endorsed
," he maintained and questioned that "a media scenario of public ridicule has been set up for the people involved."
That, after a few days, became an antics.
"I would like Argentina to function differently. Clearly, when I took note of what had happened, I reacted and lost a minister. I have read that they have filed a complaint. The fact is serious enough for a minister of the caliber of Ginés should have left his position, but
let's put an end to the antics
. I ask the prosecutors and judges to do what they should," he stated.
And he added: "There is no type of crime in Argentina that says 'he who vaccinates another who was ahead of the line will be punished.' There is no such crime and crimes cannot be constructed gracefully. We have already experienced it."
However, two years after the scandal, the then President directly rejected the VIP accommodation of officials on the list of those vaccinated against Covid-19.
"When the vaccines arrived, no one appropriated the vaccines, they were distributed equitably to every corner of Argentina," he said.
"We don't start by vaccinating the powerful and leave the weakest for last," was angry Fernández, who justly fired Ginés for having vaccinated people before their due, all of them powerful, like Verbitsky himself, with oiled relations with Kirchnerism;
the Treasury Attorney, Carlos Zannini and his wife;
former president Eduardo Duhalde and his wife and daughters, and Mar del Plata businessman Florencio Aldrey, among others.