Argentine Energy Minister's office raided over Chilean gas deal benefiting his former employer Shell

[forest444]

Last edited Thu Jun 9, 2016, 11:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Argentine Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren's offices were raided today on charges that his decision to import natural gas from Chile, rather than from Bolivia (which is 56% cheaper), was tailored to benefit his former employer, Shell Argentina.

Aranguren was CEO of Shell Argentina from 2003 to 2015, and according to his own financial disclosure statement still holds shares worth 16 million pesos ($1.1 million) in the company.

The raid was carried out pursuant to a warrant issued by Argentina's Ninth Federal Court, presided by Judge Luis Rodríguez.

The charges against Aranguren pertain to his decision on February 1 to import 195 million ft³ of natural gas daily from British Gas, a Chilean-based natural gas producer purchased by Shell Argentina just months before the newly-elected President Mauricio Macri appointed Aranguren Energy Minister.

The complaint also accuses Aranguren of ordering the National Gas Regulatory Authority (ENARGAS) to authorize a large rate increase without arranging a ​​prior public hearing as required by law, and for being one of the beneficiaries of this rate hike as a Shell shareholder.

This apparent conflict of interest was cited in a request by Congressmen Martin Doñate and Rodolfo Tailhade of the center-left FpV that the Federal Anti-Corruption Office (OA) declare Aranguren incompatible with the post of Energy Minister.

The OA is headed by hard-line former Congresswoman Laura Alonso, the first OA head to belong to the same party - the PRO - as the administration it is charged with overseeing. Alonso refused to respond to the request.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicargentina.com%2Fnotas%2F201606%2F14572-allanaron-oficinas-de-aranguren-y-la-jefa-de-senadores-pro-pidio-revisar-su-situacion-a-la-oa.html

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[Judi Lynn]

1. Every point of this new development is evil. Every part. The people are really getting reamed here.

This means they have opted to pay more than twice as much as Bolivia's gas in order to get Shell's at a only recently increased rate? He stayed at Shell just long enough to increase the rate before leaving a trail of slime to the Energy Minister's office.

If Martin Doñate and Rodolfo Tailhade hadn't gone after this, it may have never been known by the public.

This should be enough, one would think, to bring the people into the streets to protest this latest triumph of criminality. It doesn't hurt the wealthy to pay higher gas prices, but it destroys people who are just hanging on by their fingernails.

Nice photo. It triggers a wish someone would shove those mics right up his nostrils.