The manager of a bank confirmed that AFA's alleged frontmen forged a certificate to buy the luxury cars

The investigation for alleged money laundering that involves supposed front men for Pablo Toviggino, right-hand man to Claudio "Chiqui" Tapia, from the Argentine Football Association added a key testimony. A manager from Coinag Bank stated this Wednesday before the courts that the funds deposited in the account of Real Central SRL, the company formed by Luciano Pantano and his mother, Ana Conte, were low and that it is impossible that the purchase of high-end vehicles seized in a mansion in Pilar was financed from that entity. This statement puts on the table the possibility that they forged the accounting certificate in order to acquire them.

The witness, who traveled from Rosario, appeared before economic criminal court judge Marcelo Aguinsky. During her statement, she was asked about the purchase of a Porsche valued at almost 500 million pesos, whose source of funds had been certified by an accountant as coming from an account of Real Central SRL at that bank. However, the manager maintained that, at the date of the transaction, the amounts deposited were "minimal" and that such certification "was impossible", according to judicial sources.

In addition, based on the analysis of the general movements of the account, the witness stated that in the bank "the money used to buy the vehicles could never have been there". The banking institution emphasized before the courts that the records "clearly establish that the money was never there" and stressed that the bank is unrelated to any irregular operations, acting in accordance with Central Bank regulations.

The manager's statement is part of a round of witnesses summoned by Aguinsky to reconstruct the money trail of maneuvers that, according to the case, could fall under money laundering offenses, linked to the purchase of the estate, the vehicles, and other properties under investigation.

For next Friday, the statement of an insurance broker who handled the policies for all the vehicles, paid in cash, is scheduled, with the aim of identifying who made those payments and the origin of the funds. Two helicopter pilots who repeatedly landed at the helipad of the estate, valued at 17 million dollars, were also summoned.

In parallel, the Federal Chamber of San Martín began to intervene to define which court will continue with the case. Prosecutor Alberto Gentilli must rule whether the file will remain in Aguinsky's hands or whether it will be transferred to the federal court of Campana, headed by Adrián González Charvay, as requested by Pantano's defense.

Until this jurisdictional conflict is solved, new measures have been put on hold, including the summoning of employees of the estate and the summons to Pantano and his mother to present their defense, which was originally scheduled for December.

The details of the investigation

The investigation seeks to determine how the 59 high-end cars and motorcycles seized in a warehouse on the country house in Villa Rosa, Pilar, owned by the company Real Central SRL, were financed. The lot was valued at 3,861,100 dollars by official experts and was placed under judicial custody.

Among the elements that drew the court's attention is the fact that the vehicles' toll tags were paid with a corporate AFA credit card in Pantano's name, which was canceled by court order.