María Soledad Calle had stated "I didn't buy anything," but she has now judicially acknowledged the transaction for about USD 189,000
Calle has come under special scrutiny because she was simultaneously employed in the international relations area of the UOM and as the director of the company contracted by the union. Her defense denies that there was any maneuver of “self-contracting” or a transfer of control over the funds.
The Kirchnerist activist and Camporista María Soledad Calle, investigated for alleged irregularities related to the management of funds from the Metalworkers' Union (UOM), acknowledged before the Justice that she purchased the apartment located on the first floor of San José 1111, next to the property where Cristina Kirchner is under house arrest for corruption, despite having publicly denied weeks earlier that she had made the transaction.
The contradiction was exposed after Calle submitted a document to federal judge Julián Ercolini, in which she explained that the acquisition was made with “own resources” and that the aim was to allocate the property to “a foundation for studies on Argentine development.” The purchase was reportedly completed for around USD 189,000.
The new version directly contradicts her previous statements. When suspicions about her assets began to emerge, the leader had claimed: “I didn’t buy anything. It’s a union and power dispute”, and asserted that she had been chosen as a target of an internal union conflict.
Now, however, her defense formally acknowledged the acquisition and attempted to dissociate it from the money coming from the contract between the UOM and USEM S.A., a company in which Calle had a stake. According to the argument presented in court, the real estate transaction would predate the questioned contractual relationship between the company and the union.
The case investigates whether the agreement with USEM caused economic harm to the UOM, its health insurance, and its members. The company received a commission of 0.5% for the banking management of contributions, an amount that, according to the complaint that initiated the case, would have represented approximately $100 million.
The leader's assets are also part of the measures ordered by the Justice. The file includes requests for information about a Peugeot 3008, a BMW M135 xDrive, commercial companies, sworn declarations, economic movements, and trips made abroad.
Regarding the BMW, Calle stated that the vehicle would have been purchased by her partner and registered in both their names, while regarding her international trips, she argued that a significant part was related to her union functions within IndustriALL Global Union.
Judge Ercolini, with the intervention of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, also requested information from ARCA, the Property Registry, and various agencies to reconstruct the income, assets, and operations of the Kirchnerist leader.
The investigation must now determine whether there is a correspondence between the assets attributed to Calle, her declared income, and the economic operations under analysis. Meanwhile, the acknowledgment of the purchase of the San José 1111 apartment contradicted the denial that the leader herself had made public when the case came to light.
