Suitcase scandal
[1] The scandal began when Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson,[2][3] a Venezuelan-US entrepreneur, arrived in Argentina on a private flight, hired by Argentine and Venezuelan state officials, carrying US$800,000 in cash which he failed to declare.
CADIVI, the commission established by the Venezuelan government to regulate currency, prohibits taking more than US$10,000 in cash out of the country without declaring the money.
The scandal escalated with suggestions that: Wilson was part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's personal entourage; the money was meant to help finance, and thus influence, the Argentine presidential candidate Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; the money was meant to bribe Argentine officials in energy deals for Venezuelan natural gas; or, the suitcase was intended for money-laundering.
[citation needed] President Hugo Chávez was planning to visit Argentina in August 2007 to refinance billions of United States dollars in Argentine debt through bond purchases and announce a natural gas deal.
[5] On 4 August 2007, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan-US entrepreneur of Chávez's entourage, arrived in Argentina on a private plane chartered from Royal Class by Argentine and Venezuelan state officials,[6] carrying US$790,550 in cash.
[7][8] Other Venezuelan passengers on the plane included Ruth Behrens, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) representative in Uruguay; Nelly Cardozo, legal assessor of that company; Wilfredo Ávila, a protocol official; Daniel Uzcategui Specht, son of PDVSA vice-president Diego Uzcateguil, and Maria Isabel Specht, Technology and Engineering Manager of Citgo Petroleum Corporation in Houston, Texas.
[25] Wladimir Abad is the secretary of American Food Grain (AFG),[26] a part of a Venezuelan holding called Proarepa, owned by Sarkis Arslanian Beyloune and Ricardo Fernández Barrueco.
[13] Maiónica said in a recording that money buying Antonini Wilson's silence could not be wired into the United States by PDVSA, so DISIP direct Henry Rangel Silva was using a "secret fund" to send a cash payment.
[13] The lawyer also asked Antonini Wilson to sign for a $2 million receipt so Rangel Silva had proof that the cash was delivered and would not be accused of keeping the money for himself.
[13] Finally, Maiónica said that Chávez asked PDVSA director Rafael Ramírez to manage the hush money, but later decided on Rangel Silva.
In a court hearing, a U.S. attorney said Mr. Antonini is now cooperating with the investigation and wore a wire to record subsequent encounters with the alleged Venezuelan agents, who offered him $2 million in hush money, while also threatening his family if he didn't keep quiet.
[32] The Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the case, Thomas Mulvihill, said that one of the arrested individuals, Franklin Durán, had declared that the money was for the then-presidential candidate Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
[34] Cristina Fernández de Kirchner responded to the investigation led by the United States by dubbing it "operación basura" (a "trashing operation").
[35] Details of the case were explained by businessman Carlos Kauffmann and lawyer Moisés Maiónica, with both testifying against Durán and pleading guilty to conspiracy.
[citation needed] The crisis prompted the Argentine government to ask Chávez to fire the person responsible for PDVSA in Argentina.
