Former Argentine president Menem convicted of arms smuggling

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

Source: Reuters

Reuters) -
An appeals court convicted former Argentine President Carlos Menem on Friday of smuggling arms to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s during a decade in power remembered for free-market reforms and corruption.

The court said it had found Menem guilty of being "coauthor of the offense of aggravated contraband" in a ruling that overturned a lower court's acquittal of the former leader on the same charges two years ago.

Menem said during the original trial that he was "completely innocent" and had no idea the weapons shipments he authorized to Venezuela and Panama would be diverted to countries under arms embargoes.

Argentina was barred from supplying Ecuador with weapons since it played a peace-keeping role after Ecuador and Peru fought a brief war in 1995. Arms sales to Croatia were internationally banned during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130308&t=2&i=710907833&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE9271EAL00




Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-argentina-menem-idUSBRE92710920130308

[bluedigger]

1. "free-market reforms and corruption"

Don't they teach journalists to avoid unnecessary redundancy anymore?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Finally! Justice for this already impeached Bush family friend. Finally! Woohooo.

He's the one who extended immunity to the Argentinian Dirty War officers after they tortured, murdered, threw from airplanes into the ocean, over 30,000 suspected leftists. Fortunately Argentina was able to reverse that filthy move when one of the "leftists" they had tortured was elected as President with President Nestor Kirchner.

Here's how long they've been trying to nail him on the weapons charge:

Bush Friend Arrested for Illegal Arms Trafficking
by Ana Simo

JUNE 7, 2001. A long-time friend of former U.S. President George H. Bush was arrested today on charges of illegal arms trafficking. If found guilty, he could face a jail term of up to ten years. Only a phone call from the new Bush White House might spare him the indignity, he thinks. But the phones aren't ringing.

The friend in trouble is the former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, a golfing partner and business benefactor of the elder Bush. He is suspected of having illegally sold 6,500 tons of arms to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995, in violation of international arms embargoes. Menem, who was put under house arrest today by a Buenos Aires federal judge, said in his defense last weekend that the U.S. knew all about the arms sales.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher gave Menem the cold shoulder on Monday. He was unaware, he said, of any action by the U.S. government entailing approval or encouragement of Argentinean arms sales to Croatia. Given how profitable the Menem connection has been for the Bushes, one might imagine Boucher was frostily putting interests of state ahead of the Bush family, until you realize that, with a Bush in the White House, they are essentially one and the same.

In 1988, a few months before Menem was elected for his first term, George W. Bush, the then oilman son of a sitting U.S. President, had tried to pressure the administration of outgoing President Raúl Alfonsín to favor Enron, the Houston-based company, over other, more qualified bidders to build a gas pipeline in Argentina. He was unsuccessful, but the Bushes hit it off with the high-rolling, big-spending Menem from the start. One of Menem's first acts as President was to give Enron a $300-million sweetheart deal on the pipeline project.

More:
http://www.thegully.com/essays/argentina/010607bush_menem.html

[center]

Carlos Menem with his former wife, visiting his pal in Washington[/center]
Former Argentine leader Menem indicted for graft
Posted: 23 December 2009 0844 hrs

BUENOS AIRES : Argentina's Federal Court on Tuesday indicted former president Carlos Menem and several of his cabinet members of graft, court officials said.

Menem, 79, and his influential economy minister at the time Domingo Cavallo, have been charged with overpaying salaries for government employees during Menem's 10-year presidency (1989-1999), the official said.

Also indicted for graft were Menem's former justice minister Raul Granillo Ocampo, former environmental secretary Maria Julia Alsogaray, and seven other former government officials who also have been placed under an assets embargo totalling 171,000 US dollars.

The indictment puts Menem one step closer to trial, although as a sitting senator he has judicial immunity and can only be arrested if he is impeached by the legislature.

Menem's latest legal problems follow a series of earlier cases involving corruption and abuse of power dating from his presidency, in which he sold off state industries on a massive scale.

More:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1026490/1/.html

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. One has to wonder if he'll serve any time at all. nt

[Judi Lynn]

6. He has been lucky, hasn't he, all things considered?

Never did hear anything further on this story which ran in 2008:

Argentina calls for France to aid in corruption probe
Mon, 06/30/2008 - 14:25

inProbe International

Geneva: Cash-strapped Argentina needs more help from rich nations to track tens of millions of dollars allegedly stashed abroad by former President Carlos Menem and his associates, the country's justice minister said Thursday.

Noting Switzerland's cooperation in two cases related to Menem's 1989-1999 rule, Gustavo Beliz said he hoped neighboring France would likewise act soon to investigate claims of accounting irregularities and bribes involving an Argentine subsidiary of the French defense firm Thales.

"It's not just a question of getting the money back," Beliz said. "Tracing the route taken by the money will enable us to get to the heart of corruption in our country. We expect developed countries to help us."

French justice authorities said they had no immediate comment.
Beliz, who also is Argentina's security and human rights minister, spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Argentina's national audit office believes the Thales subsidiary – Thales Spectrum – inflated consultancy fees and other costs to disguise $100 million in illegal revenues, Beliz said.

Investigators also believe it paid $25 million in bribes to government officials to win a 1997 contract to run Argentina's radio frequency, cell phone and cable television spectrums, he said.

More:
http://eprf.probeinternational.org/node/4331

Of course, as we know, he always had friends in powerful places, like two past U.S. Bush Presidents.

[bemildred]

4. Good. nt