Argentina: Evidence of shakedown scheme puts pro-Macri prosecutor in spotlight
A federal probe was authorized today in Argentina against Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli after video and audio evidence was presented to the court showing a close associate of his demanding large bribes from local businessmen in Stornelli's name.
The bribes, per audio recordings, were demanded in return for sparing the victim from "having your life and your children's lives ruined" by way of malicious prosecution on Stornelli's part.
The recordings, made by Buenos Aires businessman Pedro Etchebest, 70, captured numerous such exchanges since December 28 with Marcelo d'Alessio, a frequent guest on right-wing news media as an "expert on drug trafficking issues" and, both video and audio show, a close collaborator of Stornelli's.
d'Alessio has close links to right-wing President Mauricio Macri, himself facing numerous tax evasion and self-dealing charges.
His uncle, Carlos d'Alessio, was appointed presidential notary public by Macri the day he took office, and his law office partner, José Fernández Ferrari, is the trustee for Macri's blind trust - which are illegal in Argentina.
d'Alessio claimed in the recordings to be both a DEA and NSA asset - something U.S. Ambassador Edward Prado promptly denied.
Everything but the photocopier
Stornelli, 58, is a federal prosecutor best known currently for handling the "notebookgate" case - the centerpiece of Macri's strategy of winning reelection this year by driving up negatives against Kirchner and other center-left opponents, amid his 30% approval and the worst recession since 2002.
The case emerged last August after photocopies of several notebooks belonging to a former Ministry of Public Works chauffeur were published, which appeared to detail a long-running bribery scheme during former President Cristina Kirchner's 2007-15 tenure.
The notebooks themselves, however, have never been produced, and by Argentine law photocopies are not admissible evidence in court as they've been shown to be easily forged.
Extornelli
The Etchebest tapes, moreover, suggest that lucrative shakedowns have motivated notebookgate at least as much as politics.
They show d'Alessio admitting that numerous businessmen charged in connection with notebookgate were lured by bad-faith promises of a "pass" into paying him - and, he added, Stornelli - large bribes.
" (Argentine billionaire Eduardo) Eurnekian paid $600,000 to prevent a raid on his house, and two hours later they (Stornelli) raided it. Another businessman paid $1.5 million, and they told him that nothing was going to happen; they threw him in jail. Paolo Rocca (whose Techint steel conglomerate is the country's largest private firm) paid $2.6 million - and was indicted just the same."
d'Alessio was shown demanding $500,000 from Etchebest - of which $15,000 was paid.
Maximiliano Rusconi, attorney for the most prominent former Kirchner official currently in jail, former Public Works Minister Julio de Vido, said today he intends to file a motion to have Judge Claudio Bonadío and Stornelli recused and to vacate the case.
"Stornelli has for years been known among his colleagues as 'Extornelli'," journalist Horacio Verbitsky, who published the Etchebest tapes yesterday, noted. "We've just never had such glaring proof of that before."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elpais.cr%2F2019%2F02%2F08%2Ffiscal-argentino-es-sospechoso-de-extorsionar-a-empresarios-a-traves-de-abogado%2F
Judge Claudio Bonadío and Federal Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli.
The public face of Macri's weaponized judiciary against opponents, audio and video evidence published today of large-scale extortion by a close associate has led to calls for their removal and prosecution.
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