MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Cristina Fernandez formally charged of money laundering and illicit association
Argentine federal judge, Julian Ercolini, on Monday began legal proceedings against former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2007-2015) and her two children on charges of money laundering and illicit association.A statement from the court said that Ercolini had frozen assets belonging to the family worth 800 million pesos (some 32 million U.S. dollars). Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAsk Alto calafate to produce receipts for pastries, bread rolls and wine that reconciles with the number of guests they allege to have hosted.
May 15th, 2018 - 02:23 pm - Link - Report abuse +2So far, every time the Macri government faced a difficult situation with adverse public impact, some member of the government of Cristina Fernandez was indicted, searched or jailed.
May 16th, 2018 - 12:36 am - Link - Report abuse -2The friendly press would print the story on top of the front pages and the bad news would be pushed to the lower half or to the back pages.
The recent panic took Macri and his team so much by surprise they couldn't ask judges to produce news on the Kirchner former government front. It is only now they come up with some action.
However, it won't escape attentive observers as MP readers the extreme slowness with which those judiciary procedures advance. As if judges weren't all that much interested in reaching trial stage.
Indeed, sharp watchers such as the MP readers won't miss the fact that a legal procedure may be used to keep the public attention alive--as long as it's open.
Moreover, the end may mean either sentence or non-guilty verdict, and in any event from that moment the public will be looking elsewhere. Therefore, a legal file it's more useful if left open, which will produce news reports from time to time.
Star judge Claudio Bonadio's had put together his banner accusation of 'treason to the fatherland' against CFK because of her government use of the dollar future.
That legal action was exposed for what it is when the Macri government was compelled to use precisely the dollar future mechanism to try and stabilize the value of the peso in the last few days.
Not only that; not a single official of the Kirchnerist government benefited from dollar futures at the end of 2015; but several members of the Macri government and friendly corporations did it; they made millions in profits when the peso was devalued shortly after Macri taking office.
Enrique
May 16th, 2018 - 09:00 am - Link - Report abuse +1Are you therefore confident that the Hotel Alto Calafate could indeed produce verifiable receipts for the purchase of pastries, bread rolls and wine that reconcile with the number of guests their books showed they’ve hosted?
If what you say is correct, is the level of corruption the reason you don’t live in Argentina?
Mr. Jo Bloggs...
May 16th, 2018 - 12:47 pm - Link - Report abuse -1You say...:
***“Ask Alto Calafate to produce receipts for pastries, bread rolls and wine that reconciles with the number of guests they allege to have hosted.”***
And...:
***“Are you therefore confident that the Hotel Alto Calafate could indeed produce verifiable receipts for the purchase of pastries, bread rolls and wine that reconcile with the number of guests their books showed they’ve hosted?”***
I say...:
Please inform yorself Mr. Bloggs...
Hotel Alto Calafate business model was block renting (open & closed) the hotel to diverse companies...
Precisly the same business model the competing hotel uses today...
(Competing hotel..., owned by the family of President Maci's chief of staff..., Mr. Marcos Peña Braun..., by the way...)
Nobody whasoever is questioning the number of registered guests...
This charges have as little hold as the ones at the “Dollar Futures” and “Treason” cases...
But they are good to reveal the Anglo Turnips ignorance on all things Argentine
Perhaps the old bat would be more at home in a laundry?
May 16th, 2018 - 01:39 pm - Link - Report abuse +1@Think
May 16th, 2018 - 02:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So companies who wanted contracts from the government could book out a bunch of rooms and pay for them with no expectation that any guests would actually turn up to use them? How convenient. And now that the government has changed, so has the favoured hotel owner...
Don't be silly..., boy...
May 16th, 2018 - 02:41 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Blok prorating of touristic services It is a system used the World over in areas as Calafate..., with a short tourist season but with a year round need of services...
Take the Falklands/Malvinas..., for example...
A return ticket from Punta Arenas to Mount (Coke) Pleasant costs about 700€ year round because ~9 months a year them planes are almost empty...
By the way... every penny paid by the diverse companies to the hotel is accounted for and..., if it was a front for paybacks..., it was a quite silly front...
The total amount of money paid to the hotel by the only suspect company..., Mr. Lazaro Báez's..., amounts to about 0,1% of the total amount of the construction contracts to him licitated...
For your Engrish info..., that only amounts to about 1/100 th. of the usual 10% baksheesh....
Freaking cheap..., don't you THINK...?
I don't know how it works, I'm only going by what you said. Why bother to book out rooms if you're not going to use them? No one's booking up seats on the flights in the off season so ordinary people can't buy them, are they? I presume LAN just averages out the occupancy and charges enough to let them turn a profit over the year, and if that proved impossible the government would subsidise them.
May 16th, 2018 - 03:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And 10%? Wow, that's much higher than I would have guessed. Since you know the usual amount, can you also tell me how it is usually paid? And how come there's only ONE suspected company? Seems unlikely.
The Twinkle Vegetable can whine all day but we all know the truth about the corruption, clandestine misappropriation of public funds and blatant nepotism.
May 16th, 2018 - 03:41 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Dont forget the assassination….
May 16th, 2018 - 03:54 pm - Link - Report abuse +3@TV
May 16th, 2018 - 04:54 pm - Link - Report abuse -2“...we all know the truth about the corruption, clandestine misappropriation of public funds and blatant nepotism.”
Where are you drawing your information from my dear friend?
Just asking, 'cause in spite of all the noise, judges have had already over 30 months to produce convictions--with little to show for so far.
Willing prosecutors and judges can open as many investigations as they want, produce indictments and even jail suspects. Another thing is to proceed to trial and conviction, just because even in Argentina, a conviction still requires proof that a crime has been committed (something a Brazilian judge did not bother with when he convicted Lula based on 'conviction').
http://www.hotelaltocalafate.com.ar/en/index.php
May 16th, 2018 - 08:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://www.falklandislands.com/eating-and-drinking/bitter-sweet-p673281
May 17th, 2018 - 04:04 pm - Link - Report abuse -1I’ve been waiting more than a day for some deadbeat (thank you Think) to allow me to continue after I forgot which device I was on and accidentally posted before I finished.
May 17th, 2018 - 11:37 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Think
Please do explain this legitimate system- used the world over- whereby there is no accountability or the need for traceability which allows businesses to receive (laundered) money with no obligation to reconcile their accounts.
A system - used the world over- which can only be understood by those who understand Argentina it seems.
Chuckle chuckle.
Mr. Jo Bloggs...
May 18th, 2018 - 03:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say...:
***”Please do explain this legitimate system- used the world over- whereby there is no accountability or the need for traceability which allows businesses to receive (laundered) money with no obligation to reconcile their accounts.“***
I say...:
Told you many times before..., laddie..., when are you going to learn...?
...READ WHAT IS WRITTEN BEFORE COMMENTING...
As I clearly wrote above..., in me deficent but still somehow understandable Engrish...:
***”every penny paid by the diverse companies to the (Kirchners) hotel is accounted for...”***
I will give you an actual Engrish example of block renting of hotels to help you understand the concept...:
- Thomas Cook block rents..., as we speak..., some 10 hotels in the Greek Island of Mykonos...
- It is thereafter Thomas Cook's own business to fill or not all them rooms with frustrated Engrish Shirley Valentine's in search of some Greek Co(o)k..., or whatever...
- The local hotel gets his block rent monies in the bank and can concentrate in runing their business in financial peace of mind...
CAPISCE...?
By the way Jo...
How does it feel to suddenly live in the region of the World with the highest percentual of drug dealers per capita?
Are you a dealer..., an user..., or just a bystander?
Ooh... is that a nibble? I think it is... i’ll Just let out a bit more line and see if anything takes a decent bite.
May 18th, 2018 - 10:03 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Think
If it’s all accounted for I am sure all the charges will be dropped or, at worst, she’ll be cleared by the court.
Hmmm. Does Lazaro Báez run a travel agency as well as a construction company then, Think?
May 18th, 2018 - 10:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And what happens if Thomas Cook has done this block booking thing and someone comes to the hotel and asks for a room? Do they tell them the hotel is full, even though it is obviously not so?
Mr. Jo Bloggs...
May 19th, 2018 - 12:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0***“I'll just let out a bit more line and see if anything takes a decent bite.”*** ... you say...
Ya mean...: You'll lay out a bit more line and see if anyone takes a decent snort... don't ya...?
That's what we gentleman anglers call a “decent bite”..., user...
Chuckle..., chuckle...
Nibble nibble nibble. You always talk too much when you know you can’t cover your tracks old man.
May 19th, 2018 - 01:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0Crisis Fernandez de Kirchner is in the net but will she swim out?
@Think
May 19th, 2018 - 02:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So why was a public works construction company block-booking hotel rooms? New line of business in tourism?
Demon Tree
May 19th, 2018 - 02:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It’s a practice used the world over... but you wouldn’t realise that because you don’t understand Argentina. Think doesn’t seem bursting with confidence that she’ll talk her way out of it. That’s why he keeps desperately trying to deflect onto the news story of some drugs-related charges currently being processed through the Falklands judicial system.
Why does the theme tune for the Adams Family always start playing in my head when I see a photo of CFK and her two little cherubs?
Chuckle chuckle.
Mr. DemonTree...
May 19th, 2018 - 05:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For the same reason as many an oil company (for example BP) block-book hotel rooms in places like Luanda..., Laddie...
The public works construction company you mention had in its heydays some 6,000 employees working in Patagonia...They surely could use some of the only hotel rooms available in a radius of 500 km...
Mr. Jo Bloggs...
As I clearly wrote above..., this case against Mme. Kirchner..., has absolutely no meat on it...
Contrary to the news coming out from them windblown Islands...
Is it six or seven Anglo drug dealers arrested until now...?
It wasn't icing sugar they found on them..., was it...?
Puerto Estanley..., South Atlantic's crime capital...!
Chuckle..., chuckle...
That’s more than a nibble; I think this old fish is on the line now.
May 19th, 2018 - 05:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Think
This news thread is about a corrupt former president. There is also a news thread about the drugs arrests on MP. Why don’t you post on there? Along with the dozens of others who can’t get enough of it.
Now, back to CFK. Of course them building firms are free to block book hotels but they’re going to have to justify it better than “we booked them because we thought we might need them even though there was actually no reasonably practicable likelihood of EVER needing them.” Like I keep telling you, there needs to be traceability, and there won’t be any.
Now, where’s my landing net?
Mr. Jo Bloggs...
May 19th, 2018 - 07:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say...:
***“There is also a news thread about the drugs arrests on MP. Why don’t you post on there? Along with the dozens of others who can’t get enough of it.”***
I say...:
There are also two news threads about them drug infested Malvinas Islands..., and nobody is commentig on them...:
Saturday, May 12 2018 - Falklands Police issues search warrants for suspected drugs offences... Comments...: 0
Wednesday, May 16th 2018 - Falklands' police make arrest for suspected drugs offences... Comments...: 0
Now, back to CFK... Of course them building firms are free to block book hotels and they don't need to justify to nobody the use of their funds..., as long as the transaction involves legal products and/or services... everything has been logged in the books..., everything is declared and every tax penny has been paid by both sides... at the case is here...
It's soon saturday night Jo... You better forget about this phony Argie corruption case and keep an eye on your daughter & friends...
It's a jungle out there..., even in Malvinas...
@Think
May 19th, 2018 - 08:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The building firm puts up their construction workers in hotels? It's not a wonder those contracts are so damn expensive! And you think if person B pays person... lets say K, for some good or service, but does not actually make use of said good or service, and meanwhile person K gives person B a lucrative contract, that is all fine and above board?
And there's nothing stopping you posting in those threads, then they wouldn't have 0 comments.
Mr. DemonTree...
May 19th, 2018 - 09:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Stop being silly..., boy...
Of course the building firms puts up their hierarchic staff in hotels... if they have the chance...
We are not speaking about the Dorchester, the Claridge or the Savoy..., laddie...
The prices paid were 100% in line with the market prices in the region...
Now...
I am on record on these pages as a die-hard critic of anything related to Mr. Lazaro Baez...
I Think there are just a couple of persons in Patagonia I dislike more than him...
One of them being the Engrishman that owns Tottenham FC...
The other one..., a richy rich Italian...
I am also on record on these pages expressing my wish that the Kirchner family had refrained of any business deals that could be considered unappropriate when on office...
Having said the above..., and having read more than enough about the Hotesur case..., I can only conclude that..., if there ever was any money laundering and illicit association between the Kirchner family and Mr. Lazaro Baez..., it was certainly NOT through these hotel rental agreements...
Capisce...?
I wouldn't know. I don't think it's done that way in the UK, hotels are expensive, even the ordinary ones. What do you mean by 'hierarchic staff'?
May 19th, 2018 - 10:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't remember seeing you criticise Baez, is it because you think he's corrupt or some other reason? And one of your 'most hated' is Joe Lewis, the guy with the lake, the other I would have thought maybe the Benetton family, but I didn't think any of them lived in Patagonia?
Mr. DemonTree...
May 19th, 2018 - 11:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you don't remember and are too Engrish lazy to search..., I'll play mom for once and help the helpless laddie remember...:
Jul 20th, 2014 - 07:07 pm
***” Uninformed Anglo Turnip at (118)
It is with great pleasure that I can inform you and your fellow Turnips that Mr. Lázaro Baez has, as it can be read in yesterday's papers...., decided to donate all the proceedings of the expropriation of the land of his property to be flooded by the two dams, to the Ministry of Education of the Santa Cruz province for the construction and maintenance of rural schools.
This is, of course, his own generous and personal decision, not at all influenced by some “Thinking” elements monitoring his dubious business deals during the last many years...
Think is happy...”***
http://en.mercopress.com/2014/07/19/china-extends-a-financial-hand-to-dollar-and-credit-strapped-argentina/comments#comment339774
Strangely, I have trouble remembering things I've never seen, because you posted them long before I started reading this site.
May 20th, 2018 - 12:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0As for the Kirchners, corruption is pretty common in Argentina, isn't it? Do you think their business deals just could be considered inappropriate or *were* inappropriate? And do you think the same of Nestor as of Cristina?
Also, I see Trollboy was pretending to be Chinese in that thread, not very convincingly. Wow.
PS I don't have a 'mom', not being an American. It's 'Mum' round here.
If you have trouble remembering things you've never seen, because I posted them long before you started reading this site...., stop telling me you don't remember seeing things you've never seen because I posted them long before you started reading this site..., boy...
May 20th, 2018 - 01:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0That made NO sense. But thanks for finding it, I do rely on my memory for finding things in the archives, it's much harder if I don't know what I'm looking for.
May 20th, 2018 - 07:57 am - Link - Report abuse 0Anyway, how bad is corruption in Argentina, in general? I know Macri's done a couple of dubious things, but what about other presidents and state governors?
That made a LOT of sense..., boy..
May 20th, 2018 - 11:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0It exposed your childish manipulative wifey ways...
You start dialoge with a somehow known interlocutor with an implicit disqualification à la...:
***“I don't remember seeing you ....... ........ blah..., blah..., blah....”***
Can you imagine how booooring it could be if I started adressing you by saying f.ex...:
” I don't remember seeing you criticise homophobia..., or paedophilia..., or hunting the near extinct Scottish Haggis Deer...?
Think, I'm not lying or playing games, what I wrote was the literal truth. I even wondered if it was something you said before my time, but my memory isn't perfect so I didn't want to assume.
May 20th, 2018 - 12:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Rereading it now, did you think I was trying to imply you were lying or something? That was not my intention at all, I meant exactly what I said, and if you object I'd rather you tell me straight out. I'm not good at hints at the best of times, and a text only medium is not the best of times.
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