We may not like it, but we can’t say that corruption in Argentina – as in most countries
– is new.
The truth is that since the first government meeting, back in 1810, virtually no Argentine
government has been free of suspicion.
Yep... the possibilities are almost endless... and the incentives, very generous.
And don’t think it's just a matter of sticking your hand in and you’re done, most corruption
cases are much more convoluted.
However, folks, what has been uncovered in recent years goes much further.
We’re talking about the realization that in Argentina there has been a systematic process,
led by the nation's own government, with the objective of looting the country's public
treasury on a rather large scale.
And… we’re not talking about the occasional bribe… but of billions of dollars that,
given the evidence, seem to have been stolen during the Peronist governments of Néstor
Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
The news comes almost daily, but this video’s goal is to tell you how it all started, what
happened, and how this plot worked-- a plot which the very Presidency of the Republic
was involved... as well as dozens of politicians, judges, officials and many of the most important
businessmen in the country.
Folks, this looting operation’s plot, known as the "notebooks", began with the arrival
of Néstor Kirchner in May 2003 and continued under the presidency of his wife, Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner until 2015.
That is to say, the systematic pillaging of the public coffers happened for more than
a decade.
Now, before we look into what this consisted of and how much money it meant for the Argentines,
we have to answer some questions about the real protagonists of this story: the Kirchners.
Who are they?
How did they get into power?
How did they manage to set what is perhaps the biggest operation in Argentina's history
of public coffers looting into motion?
Listen up.
(AUDIO: THE KIRCHNER’S ASCENT)
Two provincial politicians who managed to own Argentina for years.
Folks, it all began with a beautiful love story between two young university students.
Néstor and Cristina met in the mid-70s while studying law at the National University of
La Plata in Buenos Aires.
Love soon bloomed and in 1976, after the military coup led by Lieutenant General Jorge Rafael
Videla, our two lovers decided to leave to work as lawyers in the city of Río Gallegos
[GA-YE-GOS], in the province of Santa Cruz.
A city that by the way is far away from the capital, more than 2,650 km away!
If we’d been asked at that time about this couple’s political future, we probably wouldn’t
have mentioned national politics.
However... after democracy returned in 1983, this nice lawyer couple joined the Peronist
Party... and it was there folks, that the career of those who became Argentina’s Underwoods
really began...
Well, now that I think about it...
I think it was the Underwoods who became the Kirchners of the political series.
A relationship made by and for power.
First, in 1987 Néstor Kirchner was elected mayor of Río Gallegos, and a few years later,
in 1991, Governor of the Province of Santa Cruz.
Then finally, in 2003, he became President of the Republic of Argentina.
And during this time, Cristina Fernández didn’t stay on the sidelines.
She made her career in the legislative chambers, as provincial deputy, national deputy and
national senator... until in 2007, she arrived at the Presidency of the Republic.
And... then, in 2015, she went back to the Senate.
Yes, it seems that the Kirchners had it very, very clear: between the legal profession and
politics...
Politics.
More than 30 years living off of taxpayers.
Now that's a career...
However... just a moment.
The province of Santa Cruz, which is where the
Kirchners began their political career isn’t only far from the capital, which after all
is the center of power, but in 2001 its population didn’t reach 200,000 inhabitants... it was
about 0.5% of the country’s entire population, which at the time was approximately 36 million
people.
So...
How did two politicians from a place that is so far from the core of power and is so
small take control of the entire country?
This’s the question that many journalists and political analysts have been asking for
a long time.
Well... now we’re beginning to unravel the answer.
Basically, this husband and wife took over, co-opted and bought almost every sector of
Argentine politics through the power of their wallets:
Businessmen, trade unionists, judges, journalists, artists and civil society leaders succumbed
to the power of the state's wallet.
Billions of dollars distributed among the pockets of those who supported and were unconditional
supporters of this peculiar marriage.
A clientele network fed and greased by concessions, aid and subsidies that were conveniently distributed
and which nobody controlled.
However….
The question that we have to ask ourselves is...
How did they finance it?
How did the Kirchners maintain such an ample clientelistic group?
Listen up.
(THE GOAL OF PUBLIC WORK)
Look at what Cristina Fernández said in 2010:
( “For us, for this Administration, public work isn’t a contingency, it’s a conviction,
a structural political concept that we’ve been developing not only since 2003, but since
we gained the responsibility of directing a community’s destiny”.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.)
Well, now we know why public works were so important for this marriage...
And no, I'm sorry, but it has nothing to do with Argentina’s interests.
Public work was one of the core parts of the Kirchners’ political fabric, first in the
province of Santa Cruz and then throughout the country.
Now... some of you may be wondering, but, Simon, How did the system work?
Well... you’ll see… deep down it was quite simple.
President Kirchner, through his Minister of Federal Planning and Public Investment, Julio
[HOO-LEE-O] de Vido [VEE-DO] – who stayed in this post for the entire period in which
the Kirchners headed the country – met periodically with the main construction companies in Argentina,
which in turn were convened by the President of the Chamber of Construction, Carlos Wagner.
Well, in these meetings it was agreed exactly which company would get each public tender...
That is, they met to decide how to distribute the ‘cake’ .
Then... when everything was decided the tender procedure started... but it was for mere appearances…
the company which was chosen was the one that this kind of “public works cartel” had
previously agreed on.
And now comes the key to the entire process...
Once the work was granted, the companies charged the first installment of the contract, the
advance payment they needed to supposedly begin working… however, this payment was
given entirely to
the politicians.
So wait.. where was the business if these companies had to pay back what they charged?
Well... in the extra costs.
See, it’s estimated that on average each project’s extra cost ranged between 30 and
40 percent of the total bill.
That way, if work was granted for 100 million, budget expansions were approved for up to
a total of approximately 140 million.
But that's not all.
Sometimes the government would also approve changes and new project expansions… until
the company that had been awarded the 100 million dollar work ended up charging a lot
more...
180, 200, 250, and even 2.8 times the initial budget, so in this example, 280 million...
And to top it all off, many of these projects were not even finished.
You heard that right.
Of course, in exchange for this bargain, companies paid bribes to politicians--depending on the
case, between 10 and 20% of the invoiced amount.
Having said that, have you ever wondered how public work functions in your country?
The case, folks, is that this whole process worked perfectly for years...
But now... it’s been exposed.
(DISCOVERED)
Folks, the
little details count...
When one doesn’t take care of all the details even the most complex and ingenious operations
run the risk of collapsing.
This case wasn’t the exception.
See, it turns out that the driver who transported the government’s “bribe collector” was
obsessed with writing down each trip, each stop, each building visited, the name of the
people he was going to see for the briefcase delivery... even the conversations he heard
during his travels.
He’d written down practically everything in 8 notebooks.
We don’t know if he did it on impulse, for entertainment, if it was part of a kind of
control and accounting system or he simply wanted to cover his back... but the fact is
that these notebooks contain all the details of this mafia plot.
And finally those notebooks... came into the hands of a journalist who, upon seeing what
they contained, decided to turn them over to justice... and after months of investigation,
at the end of July 2018, high officials and businessmen linked to the plot were arrested.
But that's not all... now many of these people have decided to collaborate with the justice
department in exchange for penitentiary benefits... such as not being in prison while the process
continues.
And one of those individuals is, Carlos Wagner, the President of the Chamber of Construction,
the man who called the companies and one of the people who benefited most from this entire
mess.
His story confirmed everything the notebooks said.
And the other testimonies went in the same line.
But... right now...
I'm sure you may be wondering, OK, OK, Simon, but how much money are we talking about...
Well, folks, a lot-- and I mean a lot--of money.
See, if Carlos Wagner is telling the truth...
The Kirchners would’ve received almost 3 million dollars... 3 MILLION DOLLARS A DAY
during their 12 and a half years in government!!
That is, more than 12 billion dollars in total, only from public works.
Because, besides that, there are many more suspicions of corruption and pending cases.
12 billion to pay politicians, judges, journalists, social leaders... and, of course, to fill
their pockets.
Everything indicates that this is how the Kirchners came to power and consolidated that
power over Argentina.
For example, there’s also José López’s case, former public works secretary and someone
who was very close to Julio de Vido, the Kirchnerist minister who managed the plot.
Well, in June 2016, having been alerted that the police could raid his house as part of
an investigation… he decided to leave at 3 in the morning with 9 million dollars he
had in cash... hidden under the mattress.
Anyway, that night López tried to hide the money in a convent-- the convent of the Praying
and Penitent Nuns of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima – but didn’t have the best luck.
While he was stashing the money, a neighbor, who thought that it was a robbery, called
the police.
And that's how good old Jose Lopez was caught red-handed.
Now we know where all that money probably came from.
By the way, as you can imagine, this money couldn’t simply be transferred to a bank...
No, it had to be paid in cash so it wouldn’t leave a trace... so it was moved in bags.
Well, since they made so many payments… the people in charge of filling the bags already
knew how many money wads fit into each bag...
So it seems that the money was no longer counted in millions, but by the number of bags.
By the way, don’t forget that companies also made money by overpricing... so the damage
to the Argentine people has been even greater...
Anyway, folks, this is the gruesome story of how some politicians decided to plunder
their own country.
If the facts are confirmed, even the Underwoods would be scandalized by Argentina’s situation.
Will Cristina Fernández end up in jail?
Only time will tell.
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Don’t forget to check out our friends at the Reconsider Media Podcast - they provided
the vocals in this episode that were not mine.
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