Prosecutor charges Martín Insaurralde with money-laundering

Lomas de Zamora federal prosecutor Sergio Mola has charged former Buenos Aires Province Cabinet Chief Martín Insaurralde with presumed money-laundering while calling for a lien to be slapped on his assets.

Both initiatives also extend to the model Sofía Clérici, the Marbella yacht companion of the Lomas de Zamora mayor on leave, while Mola also asked that they both be prohibited from leaving the country, it was made known to Noticias Argentinas news agency.

The case is in the hands of Lomas de Zamora federal,judge Federico Villena after being denounced last Saturday by Gastón Marano, also the  lawyer of one of the defendants accused of trying to kill Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner last year.

Earlier Mola had asked Villena to step aside in this case due to his presumed close links to Insaurralde, basing his recusal on press rumours of a presumed friendship between Villena and the disgraced official.

Furthermore, the prosecutor mentioned the fact that the first ex-wife of Insaurralde, the lawyer Liana Alejandra Toledo (daughter of a former Lomas de Zamora mayor) works as an administrative secretary in Villena’s federal courtroom.

For those reasons, the prosecutor points out the existence of a "fear" that the judge might not be impartial while being the courtroom where the first denunciation against Insaurralde was made by Marano.

Since then there have been more, eight in total so far, regarding the scandal of which he is the protagonist but also involving Clerici and his ex-wife, the model Jesica Cirio.

– TIMES/NA