Latin America

tenorly

(2,037 posts) Sat Apr 22, 2017, 10:40 PM Apr 2017

Former Madrid boss Ignacio Gonzalez, close ally of Argentina's Macri, arrested on corruption charge

The former president of the Community of Madrid, Ignacio González, was arraigned on Friday following his arrest on charges of illegally diverted public funds into the coffers of his own political party, the right-wing Partido Popular (PP), as well as into his own accounts.

The Spanish Guardia Civil arrested González on Wednesday as part of Operation Lezo - an investigation into González's use of a cutout, the Obrascón Huarte Lain company, to embezzle and launder said funds for both illegal campaign finance and personal gain during his tenure as president of the Community of Madrid between 2012 and 2015.

The investigation, triggered by allegations that unlawful commissions were paid for awarding a contract to build a railway between two towns near Madrid that was ultimately never built, has been compared locally to the massive Brazilian Lava Jato (Car Wash) bribery scandal.

González, according to the leading Madrid news daily El País, "is considered the alleged leader of a plot that for years diverted public funds for personal enrichment."

Argentine connection

Among the largest contracts being investigated is the 2014 sale of 73 CAF Series 6000 wagons to the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for use in its subways. The purchase, worth €32.6 million (nearly $40 million at the time), was made by then-Mayor Mauricio Macri, whom González considered a close ally and who in 2015 was narrowly elected president of Argentina.

The wagons, used by the Madrid Metro since 1998, were quickly found to be obsolete however, and forced the Argentine federal government to purchase a number of new, Chinese-made wagons instead - at a unit cost below that of the 16 year-old wagons.

The Spanish units, moreover, required over $30 million to be adapted to the Buenos Aires metro's relatively wide gauge as well as to differences in electrical systems. A third of these have not yet been incorporated to the rolling stock; some have instead been used for explosives tests.

Macri's policy of privatizing city services and unprecedented use of subcontractors have prompted numerous investigations over the past five years, though all remain stalled in the courts. Of particular concern to investigators have been the many contracts benefiting the Macri family firms IECSA and Creaurban, which together have received nearly $5 billion in state contracts since Macri took office as president 16 months ago.

Macri presided over a five-fold increase in Buenos Aires's municipal debt to $2.5 billion during his tenure as mayor from 2007 to 2015.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fdetuvieron-madrid-un-aliado-macri-que-le-vendio-trenes-obsoletos-el-subte-n28031

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Former Madrid boss Ignacio González: Hello, I must be going.[/center]

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Former Madrid boss Ignacio Gonzalez, close ally of Argentina's Macri, arrested on corruption charge (Original Post) tenorly Apr 2017 OP

Wow. The magnitude of fascist Macri & Co.'s corruption is incredible. Judi Lynn Apr 2017 #1

And thank you for taking the time to read them, Judi. tenorly Apr 2017 #2

Judi Lynn

(160,545 posts)

1. Wow. The magnitude of fascist Macri & Co.'s corruption is incredible.

Reply to tenorly (Original post)

Sun Apr 23, 2017, 10:48 AM

Apr 2017

They must really feel they have a strong grip on the government, enough to overpower even the slightest resistance from the public as they continue to bleed the country dry.

One would think already there have been protests, outrage against the fact they are stuffing their own and each others pockets as fast as they can, with no apparent discouragement from any quarter.

Of course, the fact the hard right controls the media in Argentina goes a long way toward keeping their secrets for them, as they did during the military dictatorship, as 30,000 souls were tortured and disappeared into the ether by the thriving barbarians.

Macri's service to Buenos Aires has to be one of the most villainous examples on record. He really screwed the citizens wildly. If there had been any justice, he would have never been considered for public office again after that!

Thanks for taking the time to share this material. It's real food for thought.

tenorly

(2,037 posts)

2. And thank you for taking the time to read them, Judi.

Reply to Judi Lynn (Reply #1)

Sun Apr 23, 2017, 11:58 AM

Apr 2017

I always try to condense these as much as I can.

Thanks also for posting the Viggo Mortensen story. It really is as bad as he describes it: Macri is trying to defund the National Firm Institute (INCAA), and is using his surrogates to besmirch it in the eyes of public opinion as much as he can.

The fact that, as in the U.S., many right-wingers resent artists - and actors in particular - makes his job that much easier.

It's also just another gift to the Clarín Group, since 60% of INCAA revenues come from a small tax on broadcasting - and doing away with said tax would save Clarín upwards of $20 million a year. Clarín also owns a film production company of their own (Patagonik), and would thus stand to benefit if other film studios went out of business.

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