OpenLux: Argentina's Macri family used Luxembourg companies to reap $70 million
Data revealed in Luxembourg’s UBO registry by the OpenLux revelations published last week may help unlock an investigation into Argentina's Macri family’s lucrative dealings in six wind farms.
A Luxembourg company could hold the key to a corruption scandal that has swirled around Argentina’s former president, Mauricio Macri, and his family for years.
Lares Corporation, set up by his brother, was part of a chain of companies in Argentina, Spain, and Luxembourg was part of a chain of entities used to buy and sell six wind farms in allegedly corrupt deals that are thought to have netted the former president and his relatives around $70 million.
Argentine law enforcement, who have been probing the deal since 2018, say the discovery of the company may be an important piece of evidence in their case.
The heir of one of the country’s richest families, Macri was seen by many as a pro-business leader who would help open Argentina to the world - but by the time his term ended in 2019, the country was mired in a debt crisis and deep recession.
Macri, 62, was one of five world leaders named in the 2016 Panama Papers scandal.
Other cases he has faced charges on include the Odebrecht scandal (for a failed rail tunnel project shared with IECSA, a family firm), the purchase of a failing Macri charter airline (MacAir) by Colombia's Avianca in 2016 in exchange for access to local routes, an attempted write-off in 2017 of up to $250 million in Macri Group debts to the Argentine postal service, and the Wind Farm scandal.
So far none of the cases has resulted in convictions, and he denies wrongdoing.
At: https://www.occrp.org/en/openlux/gone-with-the-wind-argentinas-former-first-family-used-luxembourg-companies-to-reap-70-million
Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri enjoys a light moment during the opening of a wind farm in northwest Argentina in 2017.
Macri is under investigation for the purchase and resale of six windfarms by a family firm (SIDELI/SIDSEL) during his 2015-19 tenure for a $70 million profit.
He has been charged in numerous other self-dealing, tax evasion, money laundering cases - though so far none have resulted in convictions, and he denies wrongdoing.
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Obviously he has felt he wasn't in immediate trouble in the country of his birth or he and his cabal would slimed their way to Italy, the country of his ancestors, his father.
His daddy's bio:
Raul Francesco Macri ( Rome , 15 April as as 1930 - Buenos Aires , 2 as March as 2019 ), better known as Franco Macri , was a businessman and executive Italian nationalized Argentine .
He was the leader of Grupo Macri -SOCMA, an Argentine economic group , made up of companies mainly related to construction ( SIDECO ), the automobile industry ( Sevel ), air flights ( Macair Jet ), the collection system ( Easy Payment ), garbage collection ( Manliba ) and the food industry ( Canale ), with establishments in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay . He won the 1988 Konex Award .
Beginnings
He was born in Rome, in a home of three brothers. His mother, Lea Lidia Garbini, belonged to a Roman family, owner of a public transport company in the Lazio area , his father, Giorgio Macrì, was born into a large estate family in Calabria . 1 2 owned a construction company, which had contracts in Italy and Africa. 1 and was active in some political parties without success.
At the age of 18, Macri emigrated to Argentina bringing his two brothers with him and without knowing the Spanish language . His father, Giorgio Macri, had already lived there for two years. 1 Once in Buenos Aires, he began to work as an assistant to a civil engineer, also of Italian origin. Just three years after arriving in Buenos Aires, in 1951, he founded a company dedicated to construction, which would later give rise to what is now Sideco Americana. 3 4
Over the years, Macri was in charge of leading various business organizations such as the Unión Argentina de la Construcción, the Argentine Chamber of Construction and the Association of Automobile Manufacturers. [ citation required ]
Macri married the Argentines Alicia Blanco Villegas (1958-1980) and Cristina Greffier (1982-1986) and had six children: Mauricio , Alejandra, Gianfranco, Mariano and Florencia; he lost his daughter Sandra in 2014 , 5 after a long illness. His eldest son, Mauricio Macri , was Head of Government of Buenos Aires between 2007 and 2015 and was elected president of Argentina in 2015. His nephew, Jorge Macri , has been municipal mayor of the Vicente López Party since 2011.
Decades of 1970 and 1980
During the last civic-military dictatorship (1976-83) the business group grew enormously, mainly thanks to what would be the strength of said company: the purchase of companies, public works and various concessions for the Argentine State . 6 Its companies evolved at a considerable rate, becoming part of the largest holding companies in America .
During the 1980s , Franco Macri was in charge of the Sevel firm , one of the most important in the Argentine automotive industry. In its heyday, this company employed 100,000 people. For this firm received a Konex Award in 1988. 7
More:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Macri
The "garbage collection" connection reminds one of Tony Soprano's sideline as a "Waste Management Consultant."
Of course Mauricio Macri was well removed from those days.
Sleaze-o-rama!
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I'm pretty sure I also read Macri had a piece of the Toll Road system in Argentina. Odd idea for picking up some quick change, isn't it? Privatized roads?
Thank you for a possible opening to some appropriate government investigation of a major grifter!
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