Operation Tracer: Gandini distances himself from narco convict for money laundering
Police are investigating whether a branch registered in the name of Jorge Gandini's wife was used in a money-laundering scheme linked to Operation Tracer.
Gandini holds press conference following link between wife's premises and money-laundering network
Uruguayan police are investigating whether a branch of a debt collection and foreign exchange business registered in the name of the wife of the director of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Jorge Gandini, was part of an asset laundering scheme, according to montevideo.com.uy citing sources from the Interior Ministry.
The investigation is part of Operation Tracer, which last week resulted in the seizure of over 260 kilograms of drugs, weapons, vehicles and cash in an operation carried out at a residence in Brazo Oriental, Montevideo.
One of those detained in the operation, Pablo Leiva, had been working as an adviser to the National Party (PN) councillor for Montevideo, Gonzalo Gómez. The courts convicted Leiva to two years and six months in prison for asset laundering and internal arms trafficking.
The premises under investigation is agency 71/02, which is registered in the name of accountant Laura Scalabrino Muga, Gandini's wife, and which appears as joint property in the statement of assets filed by the official with the Public Transparency and Ethics Board in August last year. Scalabrino Muga is said to have acquired the business approximately a year ago.
According to the newspaper La Diaria, the connection between the premises and the investigation is said to have emerged from chat messages recovered by police during the seizure of mobile phones in the operation. Leiva, who lived in the vicinity, is reported to have frequented the establishment to make payments of contributions to the Social Security Bank (BPS) corresponding to a construction company.
From Gandini's circle it was indicated that the former senator had no connection whatsoever with Leiva. The same sector stated that, at the press conference scheduled for this Tuesday, Gandini would maintain that Leiva had used that construction company to launder money without the knowledge of Scalabrino Muga or the staff of the premises.
Councillor Gómez, a member of the National Party's Board and elected from list 250—headed nationally by Gandini—announced the termination of Leiva from China, where he is attending a seminar. Gómez also denied any connection with the illegal activities of his now former adviser and clarified that Leiva's son, who also worked as an adviser in the Departmental Assembly, was detained and subsequently released, which means that, in his words, "it is not appropriate to attribute responsibility to him for the facts being investigated regarding his father".
Source: Google News UY — Montevideo