Pandora Papers: Zulemita Menem, the daughter of power with four offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands | The “Pandora Papers”

Bad family debt, a confrontational divorce, rentals in Miami, and a deal with a well-known car dealership outside the Monumental Stadium, the headquarters of River Plate in Núñez. The reasons that led Zulemita Menem to operate in the world off the coast They were very diverse and included four companies from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) which were operational between 1997 – when Carlos Menem passed his second presidency – and 2006. But according to the heiress of the former president of Riojan, who died this year, none of them these activities did not involve his father’s money.

Zulemita, businesswoman, graduate in foreign trade and heir to Carlos Menem – whom she accompanied until the end of her days – was linked to four offshore companies: Ralsen Properties Limited, Menfield Holdings Limited, Berclair Holdings and Nustal Enterprises. All were operated by Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee (Alcogal), a Panamanian law firm that provides services to multinational corporations, investors and high net worth individuals, according to the nearly 12 million documents of the Pandora Papers, which were consulted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made up of LA NACION, Infobae, elDiario.Ar and EL PAÍS.

As the Argentinian team of the ICIJ was able to reconstitute on the basis of Pandora Papers and other public documents, from her connection to these companies, it appears that Zulemita had and ceded a promissory note for a debt of Emir Yoma, who operated rental contracts in Miami, who sold a boat of luxury with her Italian ex-husband and who processed a loan in a Nigerian bank, with a partner, to open a Toyota dealership in front of River Plate.

“Although my father was in the public service, I never did and I have been in the private sector since I was 18, even before I finished my studies in foreign trade. My father never got involved or participated in my businesses, ”said Zulemita Menem, answering questions from the Argentinian ICIJ team.

Family affairs

Zulemita Menem was the beneficiary of a promissory note for a family debt of Emir Yoma, the iconic presidential brother-in-law and all-terrain adviser to Carlos Menem who ended up in prison for arms trafficking and implicated in several allegations of corruption, such as the fast door. According to Pandora Papers, Zulemita assigned this promissory note in her favor to Ralsen Properties Limited, a company registered in the Virgin Islands in 1997 with two “prestanombres” on its board of directors: Andrés M. Sánchez and Myrna de Navarro.

“I had to take legal action to get Emir Yoma to pay me a private and family debt that I was unfortunately never able to collect, neither in the United States nor in Argentina,” Zulemita said. In May 2004, Ralsen Properties Limited issued a power of attorney in favor of Argentine lawyer Cristian Martínez Rey, so that he could “take any legal action on behalf of the company”. Zulemita specified that this direction “was purely and exclusively intended to initiate the lawsuit in Argentina” and that it no longer had any relation with the firm of the Virgin Islands since the recovery of the loan of Emimr Yoma was frustrated “approximately. in 2005”.

The daughter of the former president did not want to detail the amount of the promissory note or what he obeyed and limited herself to talking about a “family” debt.

Zulemita also had a power of attorney to operate with the firm Belclair Holdings, created in the Virgin Islands in 2004, with her ex-husband, the Italian Paolo Bertoldi, with whom she had her first child. Married in June 2003 in a low-key wedding in Santa Margherita Ligure, Genoa, they lived in Miami and had a conflicted relationship with cross-court complaints, until their official divorce in 2007. Presented by the media as a powerful businessman, Zulemita clarified Sometimes Bertoldi was “neither prince nor beggar” and that he devoted himself to the export of oils.

According to Pandora PapersHowever, through Berclair Holdings, Bertoldi sold a vessel called Riccione and issued a document authorizing the sale of a condominium in Gibraltar. Zulemita had a power of attorney on signing between November 12 and December 6, 2004. He retrieved it on April 18, 2006. “I shared the ownership of the boat with my ex-husband and a power of attorney to do the documents related to the boat. I’m not sure if the company had properties in Gibraltar or other jurisdictions as the company was owned and operated by my ex-husband. The power of attorney revoked it from me -in 2004- Paolo because of the conflicts arising from the divorce, then he gave it back to me because he decided to sell the boat and he needed my agreement, ”Zulemita explained. Bertoldi now resides in the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, Zulemita and her mother Zulema Yoma obtained in February 2002 a power of attorney to operate Menfield Holdings Limited. Still according to Alcogal’s records, in October of the same year, the company allegedly took out a loan from Broadbeach Inc. for $ 400,000 to purchase properties in Miami. In the Florida Land Registry, however, there is no real estate in the name of this business. In February 2004, a letter stated that Sofisa Holdings International “formerly Menfield Holdings Limited” had revoked the proxy on behalf of Zulema and Zulemita.

Consulted with the Argentine ICIJ team, Zulemita warned that “he had not acquired any property through Menfield (or Sofisa)” but admitted that he was renting “different properties” in Miami to Broadbeach Inc. “J ‘contacted the residents of Broadbeach and I reported that there was no record of a loan to Menfield in their books, ”said Menem’s daughter.

Argentinian business: the car dealership in front of River

Zulemita did not operate off the coast just to manage family matters. He also went to Alcogal, with a partner, to start a showy business with a Toyota dealership, which he has represented for 23 years.

According to Pandora PapersOn July 29, 1999, a board meeting held in Panama of the Nustal Enterprises company decided that “for the good management of the company’s funds, it was practical to open a bank account at the Guaranty Trust Bank with a guarantee trust ”. determined that the account “be opened and managed by Zulema Maria Eva Menem”, Zulemita’s full name.

“At the start of one of my business activities – with Toyota – it was necessary to open an account with the funds of the one who was then my partner, in order to secure a loan,” Zulemita explained. The daughter of the former president refers to Jorge Cupeiro, a legend of motorway tourism who then devoted himself to sports and luxury car agencies. Zulemita and Cupeiro – deceased this year – were partners (with 50% of the shares each) in two companies: Núñez Autos SA and Videncia SA, both registered at 7576 avenue Figueroa Alcorta, opposite the Monumental, where the Toyota dealership still operates. .

As indicated in the documents presented to the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) and to which the Argentinian ICIJ team has given its agreement, Núñez Autos SA only has a balance corresponding to its 1998 financial year, the first . Cupeiro was 61 and Zulemita was 28. In this balance there is no credit with the Guaranty Trust Fund. There is only one unidentified debt of 1,086,314 pesos (then equivalent to dollars), which represented 75% of the company’s liabilities. The company has given good results: only in 1998, it recorded sales of almost 4.7 million pesos / dollars.

Consulted with the Virgin Islands firm, Zulemita said that when it started its activity, Núñez Autos SA received a loan which appears in the books of the Guaranty Trust Bank which was guaranteed by Nustal Enterprises whose funds have been brought by Cupeiro ”. He added that “the loan was canceled in a timely manner and Cupeiro’s guarantee released.

The Guaranty Trust Bank was born in Nigeria in 1990 as a financial entity and LLC (similar to a limited liability company). It was not until 2002, three years after granting the loan to Cupeiro and Zulemita, that it was licensed to operate as a bank worldwide, and in 2007 it became Africa’s leading bank. to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. Today, it operates in Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Kenya, Ghana, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda, among other countries. “Nustal Enterprises was from Cupeiro, not mine, and the bank account never received any funds from my parents or a family member,” Zulemita added.

As for the other company shared by Zulemita and Cupeiro, Videncia SA, the company was also born in 1998 and from the start it recorded a debt of $ 340,000 for a mortgage with Credit Banker International SA, according to this year’s balance, which was settled within two years. It started with a registered capital of 12,000 pesos / dollars, but received an irrevocable capital injection of one million pesos from an origin not specified in the balance sheets. In 2001, he had a net worth of over 2.6 million pesos / dollars. In 2002, Zulema Yoma, Zulemita’s mother and Carlos Menem’s ex-wife, replaced Cupeiro in Vivencia SA and became 50% of the shares, according to the IGJ.

Consulted for this publication, Zulemita Menem said: “It would not be too much to clarify that all my accounts in the country and abroad are in my tax return. And to add: “Concerning the study services of Alcogal, I am no longer a client of the study. Because I am a politically exposed person, the study deemed it appropriate to no longer provide me with its services ”.

The survey in Argentina was conducted by Hugo Alconada Mon and Maia Jastreblansky (The nation), Iván Ruiz, Mariel Fitz Patrick and Sandra Crucianelli (Infobae) and Emilia Delfino (elDiarioAr).