Justice is moving forward with an investigation that exposes how bribes would have been managed to unlock imports through the SIRA system during the government of Alberto Fernández, in full exchange stocks and with strong restrictions on accessing the official dollar. The case emerged from the analysis of the cell phone of Martín Migueles, a businessman linked to Elías Piccirillo, where conversations appeared about payments of between 10% and 15% to accelerate authorizations
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Migueles would have functioned as a link between private individuals and contacts with the capacity to influence the administrative process. The mechanism was perverse: companies needed to release imports, the Kirchner State kept access to the official dollar blocked and, in this context, intermediaries appeared offering to solve the problem in exchange for a commission. The stocks didn't order anything, it was an excuse to
collect bribes. Martín Migueles, Wanda Nara's boyfriend and researcher.
In a conversation in March 2023 with a scheduled contact such as “Adriel La Plata”, Migueles offered to get a SIRA within a week. In one of the audios, he argued that he could get it for “11 points” and that, once approved, he had to pay because “it comes from above” and would not be rejected. Then, his interlocutor sent him corporate documentation and wrote a phrase that was incorporated into the file: “Big expensive ticket haha”
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The investigation also mentions Héctor Ezequiel Caputto, alias “El Pipo”, another contact from Migueles to expedite procedures. In one of the messages, Héctor announced that the operation of the machinery had already been signed and detailed the calculation of the money that should be left “inside”, that is, destined for the internal circuit of the maneuver. According to that exchange, out of a transaction of 54,600 dollars, there were about 1,100 dollars left to be distributed among the intermediaries.
Alberto Fernández with his Minister of Economy, Sergio Tomas Massa.
Prosecutor Franco Picardi argued in his ruling that exchanges allow us to observe a structure of intermediation and economic distribution around SIRA authorizations. For this reason, he asked the Secretary of Commerce to report which officials approved these operations. The SIRAs were dependent on state decisions and, according to the prosecutor, some were approved in just 10 days when the usual deadlines could reach 180
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The case also investigates alleged irregularities with the sale of the official dollar through exchange offices, including Arg Exchange, linked to Migueles, Piccirillo and Francisco Hauque. The suspicion is that they would have accessed official currencies authorized by Central Bank officials and then sold them on the parallel market for
