The Santa Fe polo player Hugo Barabucci opened a Pandora’s Box and unleashed an open-ended quake after publicly confess that in 2017 he had purchased 20 thousand hectares in a Protected Natural Area and Border Security Zone, in Río Negro, with two million dollars “donated” free of charge by the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The repercussions for the unexpected admission that he was actually a front man for the royal family of Abu Dhabi, exploded this Monday and its splinters began to rain down on the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the provincial government due to the certain suspicion that the provincial authorities “let things go” and did not exercise the controls required by law, in the best of cases.
The first scenario of conflict detonated quickly yesterday Monday morning in the local Parliament, when the legislator Magdalena Odarda presented two requests for reports to the Executive Branch and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to demand information and clarify the legal loopholes that were exposed by the loquacity of the front man Barabucci. She did it accompanied by her opposition Peronist bloc “Vamos con Todos”, with the signatures of Ayelén Spósito, José Luis Berros, Fabián Pilquinao and Luciano Delgado Sempé. After them, members of a dialoguist Peronist bloc joined in, and they signed the legislators Alejandra Mas and Luis Ivancichamong others.
The reactions became more dynamic after Tiempo Argentino published details of the dubious real estate operation this Sunday.his writings and even the complete videos with the front man’s confession and Barabucci’s close ties with the UAE Government.
The confession that unleashed the storm occurred last Tuesday the 7th in the oral hearing of the trial that Barabucci himself initiated for “usurpation and theft” against Soledad Cayunao, a Mapuche woman who is part of an eponymous lof adjacent to one of the emirates’ ranches. Every year she crosses a small strip of these lands on her way back and forth with her cattle between summers and winters and eventually she must go deeper to look for the animals that are moving away from the herd. This was intolerable for Barabucci and his manager Andrés Saint Anonín (a harsh agent with a prosecuted history of violence) so they took Cayunao to court for doing what his family did for generations. But Justice acquitted Soledad, who was free of guilt and charge.
The reports from the confession
The two requests for reports presented by Odarda and his colleagues from the “Vamos con Todos” block total a whopping 34 detailed and chained questions that seek to clarify whether there were irregularities or crimes.and to identify those responsible and possible accomplices in the cabinet of Governor Alberto Weretilnneck. The Executive Branch was asked 19 questions about registrations, records and authorizations, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) was asked another 15 questions about the control of the origin of the money and the verification that these were not laundering operations from drug trafficking, smuggling or human trafficking.
The MPF must respond as soon as possible and with documentary support if it investigated the route of the money that went from Abu Dhabi to New York in an operation involving Argentine assets.apparently without complying with the national law on customs, criminal and fiscal matters; If, given the singular modality and amount of the operation, he requested intervention from the Financial Investigation Unit (UIF); whether he notified ARCA about possible currency smuggling; if it verified that the business did not violate the Land Laws, Border Security Protection and Protection of Native Forests, among others.
You must also respond and document if the polo player Hugo Barabucci is effectively the owner of the 20 thousand hectares located within the Protected Natural Area and in the Border Security Zone.or if it was actually a pre-name of the royal family of the UAE, as seems to indicate the plot of shell companies that went through the deed of the 20 thousand hectares until ending up forming the Amaike trust, which is controlled by the businessman of the emirates, Mathar Suhail Ali Alyabhouni Aldhaheri, a direct relative and financial operator of the emir Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahayan.
It will not be easy for the Executive Branch to answer the 19 questions specifically addressed to the governor’s office.; the Cadastre Directorate; the Real Estate Registry; the Ministry of Government; the Tax Collection Agency; the Provincial Directorate of Water, and the ministries of Environment and Climate Change and Mining.
The first and determining factor is for the Executive Branch to reveal whether in the records the ownership of the 20 thousand hectares appears as the property of Hugo Barabucci or is registered under the ownership of the Amaike trust dominated by citizens of the Emirates. But they must also admit if they certified the lawful origin of the money; how many properties Barabucci owns in the province and if he pays real estate, Stamp, Automotive and Gross Income taxes in his name; whether they verified the legal origin of the funds; If concessions and permits were granted, to Barabucci or the Amaike trust by the Provincial Directorate of Water and Mining, among others.
The public confession of polo player Hugo Barabucci revealed a fraudulent system in the purchase and sale of large areas of land by concentrated national and foreign capital. This is a million-dollar real estate transaction that was known but could not be completely proven: negotiations that revealed names and some documents but not the entirety of a puzzle that began to be revealed years ago, piece by piece, by a meticulous work by Neuquén journalist Susana Lara. And now it is visible and under the spotlight thanks to the loquacity of one of the central pieces in the dispossession of social assets, which could never have been realized in its overwhelming magnitude without the collaboration and consent of the provincial government.
