Police and tax inspectors have
carried out a court-ordered search at a casino attached to the hotel that is
preparing to host the wedding of Lionel Messi, authorities said, though they
denied any connection with the coming nuptials.
The
Wednesday raid at the City Center hotel and casino complex in Rosario,
Argentina, was authorised by federal judge Marcelo Baylaque amid an
investigation of alleged tax evasion by magnate Cristobal Lopez.
Messi's
wedding to longtime partner Antonella Roccuzzo is set to take place on Friday
at the same complex, but officials said the attached hotel was not part of the
raid.
"We are
working exclusively with the casino," said Carlos Vaudagna, the regional
director of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue, told EFE. "The
hotel is not involved and this will not affect Friday's event in any way.
"It was
just a coincidence that we came a few days prior [to the wedding], we had the
judicial request a month ago but were just granted permission now."
Vaudagna
also said he estimated that authorities would have seized all they needed for
the probe by the end of the day and would not disturb the wedding preparations.
Judge Juan
Galvan Greenway is in charge of the case, which is related to alleged kickbacks
for public works projects and an alleged $1.8m in money laundering.
"We
came to seize video monitoring tape related to subjects who we believe in 2015
received financial gain or earnings of more than $6,000 in daily [casino]
winnings," Vaudagna said.
He said that
one bettor reportedly won more than 48 times, with more than $100,000 in
winnings. Another casino in Buenos Aires as well as a racetrack had also been
raided last week as part of the probe.
Lopez was
indicted on corruption-related charges last year along with 16 others as part
of an ongoing probe into the finances of the administration under Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner, the former president of Argentina from 2007-15.
No comments:
Post a Comment