Argentine Central Bank's Sturzenegger & Judge Bonadío, a Macri ally, charged in dollar futures case.
Argentine Federal Prosecutor Jorge di Lello accused the President of the Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger, and Buenos Aires Judge Claudio Bonadío, a key right-wing ally of President Mauricio Macri, of enabling the payment of dollar future contracts that resulted in a $4 billion loss for the Central Bank after the 40% devaluation ordered by Macri four months ago.
The charges range from fraud by mismanagement, abuse of authority, and violation of duties of public officials in Sturzenegger's case; to malfeasance, procedural fraud, and attempted illegal detention in the case of Bonadío.
The case stems from charges that Judge Bonadío, at Macri's request, had filed against former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and other officials in her administration over the same dollar futures contracts on March 29.
The move backfired when during subsequent testimony former President Fernández de Kirchner provided proof that numerous Macri officials and members of his inner circle had purchased millions of dollars in the same futures contracts, and personally profited when Macri devalued the peso.
These include:
* Francisco Macri, Macri's father, who purchased $8 million. The elder Macri, a developer and contractor who's faced numerous charges of defrauding the state over the last three decades, co-owned most of the offshore accounts involved in the Panamá Papers and Open Corporates leaks with President Macri and other family members.
* Nicolás Caputo: $3.6 million. Caputo, a close friend of Macri's since childhood and best man at his last wedding in 2014, faces charges related to campaign contributions to the Macri campaign while his firm received large Buenos Aires municipal contracts while Macri was mayor (which is illegal in Argentina).
* Mario Quintana, Secretary of Interministerial Coordination: $1.5 million.
* José María Torello, chief domestic adviser to President Macri and nominal head of Macri's right-wing PRO party: $800,000.
* Gustavo Lopetegui, Macri's Secretary of Public Policy Coordination: $310,000. Lopetegui has also been criticized for having Aerolíneas Argentinas discontinue a number of profitable domestic routes to benefit its chief rival LAN Argentina (in which he served as CEO until his appointment).
The futures contracts in question, which stipulated a March 2016 exchange rate of 10.65, were issued in the second half of last year and are being blamed by Macri for the $4 billion loss incurred by the Central Bank when he devalued the peso from 9.75 to nearly 14 to the dollar last December 17.
Former Economy Minister Axel Kicillof pointed out, however, that by both U.S. and Argentine law the Central Bank cannot, as Macri suggested, sell dollar future contracts in New York (the only ROFEX market offering 14 to 15 pesos per contract at the time). Former Central Bank President Alejandro Vanoli added that selling futures contracts at those values at the time would have implied a sharp devaluation in itself.
Bonadío was also accused by Kicillof of concocting "cut-and-paste" cases against Kirchner officials based solely on articles in Argentina's right-wing media. The Clarín Group and La Nación, which had been aggressively promoting the futures case in their news outlets, themselves bought $11 million and $4 million in futures, respectively.
Their support proved decisive to Macri's narrow victory last year, and both had been calling for a devaluation at the same time these futures contracts were purchased.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.ambito.com/835993-imputaron-a-sturzenegger-y-bonadio-por-pagar-los-contratos-del-dolar-futuro&prev=search
And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.diarioregistrado.com/economia/que-es-el-dolar-futuro-y-por-que-se-trata-de-una-causa--voligoma-_a570d61b39fea936d68b8b54b&prev=search
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