“Hello, fellow Agustina, I know you are not up to these things. She looks, eg acaban de coimear in a toll of Pacheco, in an operation of the Buenos Aires police. It’s not my habit to ‘chapear’, and I didn’t, but they are such idiots that they allowed me to pay them the bribe by Market Payment. If it works for Sergio, I am at his disposal, ”said the WhatsApp message that the national deputy for the Frente de Todos received yesterday morning Agustina Propatowife of the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, Sergio Berni. Hours later a case was initiated for illegal extortion and three soldiers under suspicion were dismissed from the force.
This was reported to THE NATION police sources. The incident occurred yesterday at 9:38 a.m. Toll of Autopistas del Sol located at the height of Pablo Nogués, in Malvinas Argentinas. A crime prevention operation was being carried out there, to which they were a sub-assistant officer, a second lieutenant and an officer of the Buenos Aires security force.
At 11:04 p.m., that is to say, almost 14 hours later, personnel from the Buenos Aires Police Highway Department became aware of the events following a call from Berni to General Commissioner Walter Jacquethead of the Road Safety Superintendence of the Buenos Aires security force, in which he made reference to the WhatsApp message received by Propato.
Two hours later, police authorities contacted the Prosecutor Maria Virginia Toso, in charge of the Functional Instruction Unit (UFI) of Don Torcuato. According to him, the representative of the Public Ministry was able to reconstruct THE NATION from official sources, was present at the toll booth and gave intervention in the investigation to personnel from the Naval Prefecture. He classified the case as illegal exactions, a crime that has a sentence of up to six years for “the public official who, abusing his position, requests, demands or causes to pay or unduly deliver, by himself or through an intermediary, a contribution, a right or a gift.
“Despite the fact that 16 hours had passed since the reported events had occurred, progress was made in the investigation. The toll log book was seized and proof of the transfer made by Mercado Pago was obtained“, said to THE NATION a research source.
as far as he might tell THE NATION, the transfer made by the person who communicated with deputy Propato was 3,000 pesos and the account holder who received the money is a Buenos Aires police officer, one of the three that was working at the toll booth yesterday morning.
The number sounds laughable; especially, because it is a tiny amount that, having been made by a traceable virtual account, “leaves traces”. But nothing invalidates the suspicion that the maneuver, which came to light because it just “touched” a person with direct access to the authorities, has been repeated for a long time and countless times. In quantity, then, the volume of money raised by paying toll bribes may have been enormous.
“The most important thing now is to listen to the victim. We want to know how the facts were, if there was a threat that forced him to pay. The complainant will be able to say if the three policemen intervened or if the bribery was demanded only by the owner of the Mercado Pago account to which he sent the money ”held to THE NATION a source familiar with the investigation.
Tomorrow morning, the person who paid the bribe will testify before prosecutor Tosso. After the testimony, the representative of the Public Ministry would present the declination of jurisdiction because the events would have occurred in the jurisdiction of the San Martín Judicial Department.
Following directives from the General Audit Office of Internal Affairs (AGAI) of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security, the three police officers who were performing duties at the Pablo Nogués toll yesterday morning were dismissed, according to police sources.
