MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Embargo imposed on those responsible for Buenos Aires Herald newspaper

Judge imposes embargo on Buenos Aires Herald publishers. The English-language newspaper saw its last print edition out in October.

Judge Marcelo Aguinsky imposed an embargo of over 5 million pesos for unpaid taxes and pension contributions on the assests of those responsible for running the Buenos Aires Herald, a daily newspaper originally conceived for the English-speaking community, which saw its last print edition come out in October.

 The magistrate's ruling is a measure to “safeguard the workers' social security debts,” according to the Federal Administration Of Public Revenues (AFIP). In Argentina it is up to the employer to deduct those contributions from the worker's salary and then transfer the funds to the proper state agencies, thus creating the gap between gross and net wage.

The Buenos Aires Herald has had many owners in its history and had been last bought over by businessmen with close ties to the Kirchnerite administrations such as Fabián de Sousa, Mariano Frutos, Ignacio Zuleta, Orlando Vignatti, Roberto Corvi, Gustavo Isaak and Virginia Vignatti, all of them under the scope of the judge's ruling. “The embargo is for a total of 5,064,021 pesos,” a tax bureau source explained.

The case was raised by the AFIP upon noticing that the company had withheld the contributions of workers in its payroll but failed to enter them into the treasury. The Buenos Aires Herald LTD E.I. had later reached an agreement to settle its debt in payments which are also overdue, making that agreement null. “The judge ordered the inhibition of property and lien on account of the possible situation of irreparable danger for the collection of the debt,” AFIP said.