A repentant accused Calcaterra of pouring bribes to a millionaire to Jaime

Manuel Vázquez, the leading man of

Ricardo Jaime

, he confessed before the judge that he was the intermediary for

Angelo Calcaterra

, holder of Iecsa and cousin of the president

Mauricio Macri

, will pay bribes by tens of millions of dollars to Kirchner's official
burial of the Sarmiento train, as rebuilt
THE NATION between judicial sources.

Vázquez becomes the first contributor to the case

Odebrecht

be recognized as the link between the consortium led by Odebrecht-Iecsa and the government of Kirchner for the payment of bribes in exchange for the management of the call for tenders to achieve the one the most important public works of recent years. His testimony has not yet been approved by Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi.

Before consulting this diary, close friends of Calcaterra have ensured that the accusation of Vázquez "is totally false" and that it is not surprising that this happens during an election year. "It's a total lie," they insisted.

Jaime's leader told prosecutor Franco Picardi last Tuesday that Sarmiento's burial talks had begun between 2005 and 2006, when the contract was being drafted. Vazquez said that he had had at least three personal meetings with Calcaterra and Javier Sánchez Caballero, another member of the Iecsa management, in order to make them benefit from the contract.

At these meetings, it would have been agreed a first payment to begin negotiations with officials, a second payment of millionaire to guide the offer in favor of the consortium and finally he had It has been agreed that payments of 10% will be made each time the State transfers funds. for work.

Vázquez recalled that it was Iecsa – through Calcaterra – the company responsible for organizing the consortium of companies and establishing contacts with the Kirchner government for the maintenance of the contract. The company, which still belonged to the Macri group at the time, has summoned the two Odebrecht, as well as Ghella and Comsa, the rest of the international partners, according to the repentant.

The proposal – known as Vázquez – was quickly accepted by

Néstor Kirchner

, the then president would have stated that he was considering the possibility of including the National Development Bank of Brazil in the financing of the contract because of the good relations that he had with his counterpart Brazilian

Lula Da Silva

.

From the company, they badured that Sideco had hired Vázquez to carry out financial operations in Brazil years before the burial of Sarmiento. Jaime's representative has received payments for years, not only from Sideco, but also from three other companies that would form the Sarmiento consortium – including Iecsa and Odebrecht – as "consulting fees".

The burial contract of the Sarmiento train is one of the most important in recent years. When he decided to reactivate the work, President Macri allocated some US $ 3 billion for the implementation of the work. The consortium led by Iecsa and Odebrecht won the call for bids, but the work did not reach the expected level during Kirchnerism. However, in those years, the state spent $ 865 million.

The cause

Vázquez, detained since 2016 for another corruption case Kirchner, pending judge

Martínez de Giorgi

accept as repentant. The vanguard of Jaime is accused of several members of his family in the Odebrecht affair. Meanwhile, Martínez de Giorgi continues investigations for a year, although the Federal Chamber has asked him to quickly resolve the procedural situation of the accused.

The prosecutor Picardi has encouraged several test measures in recent months, which have led AFIP to identify that the consortium led by Iecsa and Odebrecht had prepared their balance sheets to get 4.5 million US dollars via Andorra, then used, pay bribes to officials. Justice, moreover, intervened with the administration of the consortium which is currently carrying out the work.

Vázquez's confession correlates with several of the documents already in the case, judicial sources said. This is consistent, for example, with the statement of Luiz Antonio Mameri, a Brazilian contributor who admitted to paying bribes of $ 2.9 million to Argentine officials. The executive of Odebrecht stated that it was the Iecsa company that was responsible for coordinating this first step – through Sánchez Caballero – with the payment of bribes by Sarmiento.