Argentine Prosecutor Calls Bolivian Nadia Beller as Witness in Corruption Case at Andis
Prosecutor Franco Picardi requested through legal channels that Bolivian courts call lawyer Nadia Beller to testify in an investigation into alleged bribery at Argentina's National Disability Agency.
Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller called to testify in corruption case in Argentina
Argentine prosecutor Franco Picardi requested through legal channels to Bolivian courts that lawyer and political operative Nadia Beller be called to testify as a witness in an investigation into alleged corrupt dealings at Argentina's National Disability Agency (Andis). This was reported on Wednesday by various Argentine press outlets, according to El Deber.
The request, contained in a ten-page document, means that Picardi asked his Bolivian counterparts for cooperation to obtain a statement from Beller from Bolivian territory. According to the programme Nuestra mañana, broadcast by Radio Mitre, the testimony would take place "virtually and confidentially", so Beller would answer questions from Argentine courts from Bolivia.
According to the TN news portal, the measure "adds a new chapter to the investigation", in which political strategist Fernando Cerimedo—Beller's ex-partner—has already testified and is currently under preventive detention in Bolivia. The outlet Infobae noted that Picardi's decision came after the release of multiple news articles in which Beller claimed to have evidence of alleged bribery payments at Andis during Diego Spagnuolo's tenure at the head of that agency.
Judicial sources also indicated that Picardi became aware of the possible existence of relevant information through public statements made by Beller in media outlets in Argentina and Bolivia.
According to the newspaper La Nación, Beller stated that during her romantic relationship with Cerimedo, he spoke to her about business dealings within the Argentine government. "Fernando told me that Milei's sister was involved with corruption," the lawyer affirmed.
Beller also recounted that, according to Cerimedo, his distancing from Argentine president Javier Milei was because he "had a very corrupt environment around him", and that the break accelerated when Cerimedo and his wife—who held a senior position at Andis—leaked some audio recordings. Regarding the source of those recordings, Beller said she did not know how her ex-partner had obtained them or who Spagnuolo was speaking to in them.
"I only know, from what he told me, that Javier Milei's sister was involved. Supposedly, with the leak the relationship breaks. Fernando told me: 'I told this idiot [referring to his wife] not to get involved in politics because it was going to end badly and we were going to end up with the relationship broken'. Fernando preferred to stay out and not be part of it. He wanted to be involved, but he told me the environment was too corrupt," Beller recounted in various statements to the Argentine press.
Source: El Deber