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Two members of Macri's family were summoned to court in Comodoro Py, Buenos Aires for questioning.
Family members of Argentine President Mauricio Macri are being investigated for allegedly contributing to a network of bribes circulated within the economic and political spheres during the last administration.
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Judge Claudio Bonadio summoned the president’s father and brother, Franco and Gianfranco Macri, to court Wednesday for questioning. Though the president’s father, 88, was excused for health reasons, Gianfranco appeared and presented a letter, officially refusing to answer the prosecutor’s inquiries.
Outside the Buenos Aires courthouse, he told reporters, “I never paid a bribe. Everything was clarified; there’s nothing for them to see.”
The pair allegedly participated in the broad corruption network that involved politicians and businessmen during the two presidential administrations (2007-2015), which followed that of Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007).
The case is based on vague evidence published in an exposé by Argentine newspaper La Nacion, which published photocopies of eight notebooks belonging to Oscar Centeno, the driver of Julio de Vido, federal planning and public investment minister between 2003 and 2015, during the Kirchner and Fernandez administrations.
According to the newspaper, the driver kept records of alleged bags of money that business executives gave to the Kirchner administration. Former Argentine President and Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who has also been implicated in the case, has repeatedly denied the claims of corruption.
President Macri does not plan to “intercede in any way,” Minister of Justice German Garavano said.
However, by association and the president’s former role as administrator of the family business prior to entering politics could pose an ethical issue for him down the line.
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