Courts have ordered some searches at a country club in Pilar, in the case where alleged frontmen of the president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia, are under investigation for alleged money-laundering.
According to local media reports, the raids were carried out in the private gated community of Ayres Plaza, in a property in the name of Real Central SRL, owned by Luciano Pantano and Ana Lucía Conte.
Both have been singled out in local media reports as Tapia’s alleged "dummy owners," and the duo have been banned from leaving the country by Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas.
Two plots of land at Ayres Plaza, which are marked as “under construction,” are of interest to investigators, which believe property has been built on them.
The firm recorded as owning the mansion —which belonged to former international star Carlos Tevez between 2017 and 2022 – are under investigation as prosecutors seek to uncover who really owns the property.
Media reports have identified Tapia and AFA treasurer Pablo Toviggino as potential owners.
The operation is aimed at obtaining documentation and other elements which may provide evidence in a case where an alleged money-laundering scheme is under investigation.
According to a complaint filed by the Coalición Cívica political party, those responsible for the company — Pantano and Conte— do not have the necessary finances to purchase property at such a value.
According to the data added to the file, Ana Lucía Conte was a freelancer until 2012, in 2020 she collected the Emergency Family Benefit (IFE in Spanish) and a year later she became a pensioner. As for her son, Pantano, records also show him as a freelancer and with a history of banking debts.
However, Pantano has links with the world of football: he presided over the Argentine Civil Association of Football and Beach Football starting in May 2021 and, in March 2022, he took on the role of deputy treasurer of the Almirante Brown Club.
On the other hand, Rafecas’ investigations into the Pilar mansion allegedly linked to AFA officials also progressed with other measures: the magistrate asked to lift the tax secrecy of Malte SRL, a company engaging in school transport which shows up as once owning the property.
The magistrate managed to get the land registry documentation of the plot in La Plata and decided to expand the file: he ordered the lifting of the tax secrecy of the company which once owned the property. The novelty: that company is a habitual supplier of AFA.
Malte SRL was reportedly hired in 2022 to implement AFA's video-assisted referee (VAR) system, a job for which it collected US$ 500,000.
This situation comes only two days after the searches conducted by the Federal Police in different AFA offices and over 15 clubs, related to the case which links the entity governing Argentine football with Sur Finanzas.
– TIMES/NA
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