Notebook scandal: Argentine police search Eduardo Eurnekian's homes

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Argentine Federal Police has raided three homes linked to Eduardo Eurnekian - a businessman of Armenian descent - as part of a case investigating the "notebook scandal", Clarín reports.

The graft scandal - called "cuadernos de las coimas" in Spanish, meaning "bribery notebooks" - took place in the country in 2018. It was started by driver Óscar Centeno, who had worked for public officials during the presidencies of Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and denounced an organized corruption scheme. According to notes he had kept in personal notebooks, he had frequently carried bags filled with US dollars to several locations, including public buildings and even the personal house of Cristina Kirchner. Those bags would be payments for bribes.

According to local media reports, the police searched for documentation that could be significant for the case.

The businessman involved in the corruption scandal was scheduled to testify a few days ago but the hearing was postponed.

In August, the nephew of the head of Corporación América, Hugo Eurnekian, who is in charge of the group's energy business, confessed to having paid money to Roberto Baratta - the right hand of Julio de Vido, Argentina's former Minister of Planning and Public Investment - for an electoral campaign.

Eurnekian participated in several tenders through his construction company, Helport. Among the projects the company managed to secure is the construction of a major hydroelectric dam in the southern province of Neuquen. His group also sought to build dams in Santa Cruz, although that project was granted to Electroingeniería.