Sergio Claudio Cirigliano is an Argentinian businessman who, with his brother Mario, operates major rail and bus concessions in Buenos Aires and elsewhere in Argentina through the Grupo Plaza conglomerate.
Also, Cirigliano was accused of having bribed Secretaries of Transportation Ricardo Jaime and Juan Pablo Schiavi, who directly oversaw the awarding of rail and bus concessions.
One source attributes their success largely to their ability to form “strategic ties with shifting political powers.” The Cirigliano brothers have been described as being “forever friends of power,” whose business was created and maintained through government subsidies.
The formation of the holding company Cometrans made it possible for the Cirigliano brothers to obtain the concession for the Metrovías SA subway service, which they held from 1994 to 2000.
The family business is also said to have greatly benefited from Claudio Cirigliano's close relationship with Domingo Cavallo, who served as Minister of the Economy under Menem and Fernando de la Rúa.
[2] At one point, the state paid the Cirigliano brothers seventy million dollars to cover ten years' worth of repairs to the trains running on the Sarmiento and Mitre lines.
One reflection of Cirigliano's closeness to the Kirchers is the fact that for six months, at the request of the government, he paid the salaries of employees of the defunct airline Southern Winds, to which the brothers had no connection.
[4] According to La Nación, Claudio manages the department that deals with lines of transport, while Mario is in charge of the subsidiary Consorcio Metropolitano de Transporte (Cometrans); in turn, says La Nación, Cometrans controls the firms TBA (trains), Emfer (rail equipment construction), TAT SA (bus construction) and Ferrovial Baires (buildings and railway infrastructure).
[1][3] In addition to accumulating bus and train routes, both urban and interurban, the Ciriglianos were contracted to manufacture and repair vehicles and to maintain infrastructure.
Televisión Digital Terrestre (TDT), a holding company that is a subsidiary of Grupo Plaza, won a contract to supply decoders for the plan.
Transporte Automotor Plaza, Dumas Cat, Plus Ultra Mercobus, and El Rápido Argentino all run medium- and long-distance services.
Grupo Plaza also controls the firm Sistemas Integrados de Gestion (SIG) SA, which provides IT services and develops software and other computer technology with transport applications.
[9] Blame was placed on Claudio Cirigliano and his brothers, who were accused of obtaining the railroad concession through favoritism and bribery and of pocketing government subsidies intended to cover maintenance costs.
[10] Specifically, the brothers were accused of bribing Ricardo Jaime, who served as Secretary of Transportation from 2003 to 2009, and Juan Pablo Schiavi, who held the same post from 2009 to 2012, with personal gifts and free travel.
[4] On March 5, 2012, Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio banned Cirigliano and Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi from leaving the country while an investigation of the Once crash proceeded.
[13] On June 19, 2012, Federal Prosecutor Federico Delgado requested the prosecution of thirty persons, including Claudio and Antonio Cirigliano and former transport secretaries Juan Pablo Schiavi and Ricardo Jaime, in connection with the Once train crash.
[5] During the trial that ensued, Claudio Cirigliano told the court that TBA had a debt of approximately 1.9 billion pesos and said that money could be set aside to help the families of the crash victims.
[14] La Nación reported on October 19, 2012, that Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, as well as former Secretaries of Transport Ricardo Jaime and Juan Pablo Schiavi, were being prosecuted in connection with the Once crash.
La Nación also quoted Minister of Interior and Transportation Florencio Randazzo as saying that the Sarmiento and Mitre train lines were “calamitous, a real disaster” as a result of the granting of the concession to the Cirigliano family.
[14] On June 12, 2013, it was reported that judges of the Second Chamber of the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court of Appeals had removed the “lack of merit” clause protecting Mario Cirigliano from being questioned in the Once train crash.