Global Courant 2023-04-19 14:01:31
It’s funny but sometimes the same rope that they throw at you to get you out of the bottom of a well is the one that is later used to hang you. That, exactly that, was what happened to the prosecutor (now former prosecutor) of San Isidro Claudio Scapolan (52) dismissed on Monday by a landslide: 10 votes against 1.
Prosecuted by the federal judge of San Isidro Sandra Arroyo Salgado on October 1, 2020 – who accused him of leading a gang of police officers, lawyers and judicial officials dedicated to armed operations, extortion and drug theft – Scapolan was later benefited by the Room I of the Federal Chamber of San Martín. The Chamber itself ended up removing the judge.
In a 93-page ruling on June 15, 2022, Judges Marcelo Fernández, Marcos Morán, and Juan Pablo Salas dismissed Scapolan (with a “lack of merit”) of the most serious charges against him. They only left him the “ideological falsehood of a public instrument” in the “Anacona” case.
The paradox is that, in the stage of the impeachment, this simple charge was the pillar to consider his poor performance as proven and throw him out of the judicial function.
“Anacona” is not just another case: in 2013, then-Governor Daniel Scioli promoted it as a success in the fight against drug trafficking when, in reality, it had been armed with anti-narcotics police from Quilmes who Mexicanized a large part of the shipment. It was popularly known as “White Lions” because at the entrance to Moreno’s farm, where the cocaine was loaded, there were two plaster lions.
The then Governor Daniel Scioli during the presentation of the “White Lions” operation in 2013. Photo Mauricio Nievas
The data on the shipment had come from the drug launderer Diego Guastini (43), murdered by hitmen in 2019. Guastini was an informant for the SIDE and also for the Quilmes police where he also lived. In “Anacona” he delivered drugs that belonged to the Atachahua clan for which he laundered millions of dollars.
In the case against Scapolan it was proven – even by Guastini’s own testimony, as repentant – that the “Anacona” clue did not reach the Police due to an anonymous call, as it appeared in the case. And Chamber I confirmed that Scapolan knew of this lie and validated everything that had been done.
“White Lions” was on December 28, 2013 and broke out in 2016 when the Federal Oral Court (TOF) No. 5 of San Martín annulled the proceedings due to serious irregularities detected during the trial. Among other obscure points, Scapolan had acted outside of his jurisdiction and also of his, since the UFIS do not intervene in cases of large shipments.
The TOF 5 judges sent an investigation to those who had acted then. That investigation fell into the hands of Arroyo Salgado and federal prosecutor Fernando Domínguez, who discovered a network of armed causes and, in the particular case of “Leones Blancos”, the theft of another half ton of cocaine. The drugs were in a van and did not appear on the kidnapping record.
The stolen half ton, witnesses and repentants told, had two destinations. Part was taken to Santa Clara de Mar for distribution on the Atlantic Coast and another part was taken out through the Port of Buenos Aires towards Europe, via Brazil.
“Anacona” y el jury
The “Anacona” case is so scandalous that, when it came time to fire Claudio Scapolan, the members of the jury almost did not need to rely on the rest of the accusations formulated at the time by Attorney General Julio Conte Grand: looting raided drug traffickers , extortion to improve their situation or not to arrest relatives, the preparation of cases with police officers as witnesses or disguised as policemen.
The now former prosecutor was ousted by a vote of 10 to 1 by a trial jury. Photo Mauricio Nievas
Those other cases, those other charges, did give an important framework to the members of the Jury for the Trial, because Scapolan is not dismissed but rather has “lack of merit.”
What Scapolan could not avoid was a simple fact: his prosecution for ideological falsehood in “Anacona” remained firm in the Chamber and that – being prosecuted for a criminal offense – is inadmissible to continue in office. The rest, however cruel it may seem, can be discussed in the context of the relationship of forces of an impeachment trial.
“We remark again. It is not up to this jury to analyze the criminal responsibility of Mr. Agent Scapolan, but we do assess his procedural status to determine that he incurred in negligent conduct. It is not this type of conduct that public officials in our province should have “, said the deputy Walter Carusso (Espacio Abierto Juntos) in his vote.
Except for the massista senator Sofia Vanelli – the only one to oppose the jury and the impeachment – Carusso was the softest, the only one of the 10 members of the jury who, when voting to throw out Scapolan, considered his actions only as “negligent”. The other 9 were much tougher and talked about the fact that the prosecutor knew what the Police were doing.
The president of the jury, Judge Ana María Bourimborde, was very clear: “The resolution of the Federal Chamber, cited so many times by the defense, unequivocally and conclusively ratified that the judge accused herein committed a criminal offense when he acted and directed a procedure knowing that it was forged from its very genesis”.
Bourimborde also dealt with attacking an argument put forward by Scapolan in his plea: that the Police sometimes commit crimes and he had a lot of work to control them at all times.
The president of the jury said: “It is striking that the person in charge of a Functional Unit for Complex Crimes in events of such magnitude did not engage in the investigation and was not in charge of controlling that the proceedings were carried out under his direct supervision or his secretaries Especially in the case of a case like ‘Anacona’ with the seizure of a huge shipment of cocaine.”
In the 204 pages of the grounds for the dismissal of Claudio Scapolan there are stronger positions than others. But careful reading of it ends up being a painful journey due to police impunity, judicial collusion and the interference of political power in cases as serious as drug trafficking.
MG
