The trial jury decided to dismiss the Anticorruption prosecutor and deputy attorney for the province of Entre Ríos, Cecilia Goyenechefor not having withdrawn from an investigation into “truchos contracts in the legislature”despite having very close links with one of the defendants.
There were five votes to remove Goyeneche, while only two members of the Jury voted for him to continue in office.
This is a dangerous precedent, they denounced from the opposition, since Prosecutor Goyeneche was the one who promoted the case for ex-governor Sergio Urribarri to be sentenced.
The votes that allowed the dismissal were provided by the provincial senator of the PJ, Armando Gay; lawyer Gonzalo Garcia; The judge Gisella Schumacher -partner of the president of the provincial Chamber of Deputies of the PJ Ángel Giano-; the judge of the Supreme Court of Justice Daniel Carubia -appointed in 1988 by Jorge Busti- and the member of the Superior Court of Justice Juan Smaldone.
In favor of Goyeneche, the provincial deputy of the Creer Justicialista Front, Gustavo Zavallo, and the lawyer and president of the Jury, Verónica Mulone, voted.
Goyeneche had been prosecuted after the complaints of three private lawyers, Carlos Reggiardo (who was the defender of former lieutenant governor Domingo Daniel Rossi), Rubén Pagliotto and Guillermo Mulet. The lawyers denounced her for not having departed from one of the causes of corruption that generated the most impact in Entre Ríos, known as the Legislature’s “cause of rogue contracts.”
During the investigation, prosecutors Patricia Yedro and Ignacio Aramberry, coordinated by Goyeneche, reached the accountant Pedro Opromolla, who was a friend of Goyeneche’s husband and with whom the prosecutor herself shared two properties that they bought from the well. The investigators investigated, accused and requested 6 years in prison for Opromolla. But despite that, they still denounced Goyeneche before the provincial Prosecution Jury.
One of the links between Goyeneche and the accountant was revealed when they ordered the seizure of the defendant’s assets. One of the apartments that they tried to immobilize was Goyeneche’s. The prosecutor maintained that at that time she no longer shared the property because she had already bought the other part.
The prosecutor, in the end, withdrew from the case after these links were revealed. When she had to defend herself in court, she said that she had never had direct contact with the accused because her relationship was with her husband.
The case of the fake contracts in the Legislature that she was investigating detected fraudulent maneuvers for some 50 million dollars and involved all the political parties in the province.
The complaints against Goyeneche that now ended in his dismissal generated all kinds of suspicions. The presentations took place after the case was requested to go to trial, and they advanced just as Goyeneche led the accusation of the mega-trial for corruption that ended with the former governor and ambassador of Israel Sergio Urribarri sentenced to 8 years in prison.
The prosecutor already knew that they were going to dismiss her. In several interviews, she admitted that she was going to be “thrown out” and pointed to political maneuvers. The cause of
How is the case going?
With the dismissal, Goyeneche’s outlook is complicated. The Jury of Prosecution regulations do not provide that it can appeal, in other cases it was admitted that the person who was displaced files an appeal of unconstitutionality before the Superior Court of the province.
When notified, the prosecutor will have eight business days to make the presentation. In the event that the Superior Court rejects the proposal, Goyeneche may file an extraordinary appeal to reach the National Court.