Justice investigates an account in Uruguay of a former Chavista official for possible bribes

The Levy case, a judicial file that investigates corruption behind millionaire sales of an Argentine businessman to Venezuela, could be just a hook. The Argentine justice investigates movements of funds of a Chavista official that left Panama to end up in bank accounts in Uruguay with connections in the United States.

The Economic Criminal Judge Marcelo Aguinsky sent an appeal to Uruguay to try to determine if said funds could be related to an alleged payment of bribes for the signing of contracts with the local businessman Juan Jose Levy, that exported products for 500 million dollars to Venezuela during Kirchnerism.

The information involves Eddie Elizabeth Betancourt Romero, former president of Suministros Venezolanos Industriales CA (Suvinca), that endorsed the purchase of products such as fabric softener or shampoo, among others, for USD 120 million whose supplier was the Argentine businessman. From Caracas, the contract was signed with the endorsement of the then Minister of People’s Power for Commerce, Richard Canan.

The Financial Information Unit (UIF) notified the Argentine courts that Betancourt Romero received in 2014 three transfers from Panama to one of his accounts at the Bandes de Uruguay bank, could rebuild Infobae from judicial sources. The total amount of the transfers would be $ 205,000.

The official explanation to justify the transfers was an alleged sale of property by the former Venezuelan official. But the Argentine authorities considered in their financial intelligence report that the drafts are suspicious because the amount of the alleged sale of the property would not match the amount transferred by the buyers. The money transfers, in addition, would not have been made from the buyers’ bank accounts, they detailed.

“There is already a letter sent to Uruguay for a year, but there is still no answer. More information is needed to move forward ”, they claimed from the courts. The FIU, which is the complainant in the file, received information about these movements through international financial intelligence cooperation and reported them to court in 2020. Judge Aguinsky asked the neighboring country for collaboration to certify this information, but Uruguay so far has not responded. The magistrate returned to claim two weeks ago before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that he insists on the response to that appeal, reported judicial sources.

It would not be the first time that a file investigating corruption in Venezuela has collided with the lack of international collaboration. In the same Levy case, the same judge sent a warrant (and a dozen claims) to Venezuela four years ago, which was never answered by the justice of that country.

The letter sent to Uruguay also emphasizes relevant data on the identity of the people who sent those funds from Panama to the Chavista official, information necessary to determine whether this transfer was actually linked to the Levy case or, simply, it is a black operation.

Beyond those three transfers that were made from Panama, the FIU detected other bank accounts in Uruguay and the United States whose final beneficiary is the former Venezuelan official Betancourt. The authorities recorded movements of funds between their own accounts also in 2014. The most striking was a turn that came from his account in Uruguay to another in the Mercantil Commercebank in the United States, the sources detailed.

Levy was a businessman who was far from the Buenos Aires elite until he began to sell products to Venezuela under the umbrella of the bilateral trust signed by Hugo Chávez and Néstor Kirchner. Esme Laboratory was dedicated to manufacturing products such as toothpaste, but its owner’s businesses diversified to sell to the Venezuelan state. Levy became an intermediary for several products that it did not manufacture, but that it sold at high prices to Suvinca and other organizations in that country.

Laboratorio Esme signed contracts with Suvinca while Betancourt served as president of that organization. The initial contract would have been agreed in 2011, but with different addenda, the commercial relationship was extended until, in 2012, contracts for 120 million dollars were committed. The key to accessing those contracts would have been their closeness to José María Olazagasti, the private secretary of the then minister Julio De Vido.

An AFIP report that is part of the file warned about possible irregularities in these operations. “The Top Win fabric softener for four liters was expressed at a unit price of USD 6.7, while the same product was sold to Chile at a unit price of USD 2.6. In other words, the price difference is around 154% “, indicates the document.

The justice also detailed what the maneuvers consisted of to outsource the products that Laboratorio Esme exported to Venezuela. The authorities detected that Levy bought merchandise from an Argentine supplier and resold those same products at a price that made him extraordinary profits. “The dollarized difference between exports and purchases in the domestic market of the exported products is USD 18.2 million. The percentage of increase in the amount exported with respect to the amount of the purchase in the domestic market is 281.35 percent ”, they indicated.

Why was it being sold more expensively to Venezuela? Several companies that participated in the bilateral trust with Argentina indicated that exports to that country were affected by different risks, including non-payment by the buyer. However, the bilateral agreement established that the Venezuelan state paid in advance for 60% of the contracts.

Laboratorio Esme received payments of more than USD 62 million in advance from Suvinca between 2011 and 2012, according to a report from the Central Bank. The Argentine businessman also accumulated millions for more purchases made through other companies such as Grupo Núcleo and Corporación Gulfos, almost always through the bilateral scheme that he managed. Nation Trusts.

After selling to Venezuela, Levy’s estate took a 180 degree turn. His affidavit before the AFIP, reflected his financial situation: he declared assets for $ 1 million back in 2011. Five years later, Levy entered the fiscal honesty to launder an estate of $ 1.4 billion. During those years, his companies had sales of more than USD 500 million to Venezuela.

Levy is being investigated for money laundering and transnational bribery in the Economic Criminal Justice. The Chamber of that jurisdiction considered in 2019 that it was essential, if the accusation in the Argentine courts was for fraud against the Venezuelan State, that that country provide documentation that proves that accusation against Argentine businessmen in that jurisdiction. If the crime to be proved is money laundering, the Chamber maintains, then it is necessary to prove the preceding crime that occurred on Venezuelan lands.

The lack of collaboration from Venezuela also complicated the hypothesis that there was a transnational bribery promoted by Levy for Chavista officials to defraud Venezuela. And it weakened the money laundering investigation by failing to establish the preceding offense, a necessary condition for court judges.

Judge Aguinsky, then, sent a note to the Supreme Court for this court to request the intervention of President Alberto Fernández with the intention of unlocking the warrant. The judge’s argument was that, as the exports from Levy’s companies were made through a bilateral trust between the two states, the Casa Rosada should intervene in the matter. But the court refused to act since, they assured, he cannot intervene in a pending case.