A prosecutor asked to expand the expertise on the assets of Carlos Liuzzi, the former number two of Carlos Zannini

Carlos Liuzzi spent twelve years in Casa Rosada and ended up living in a luxurious mansion in Marbella, with an unexplained standard of living for any former official. From a distance, the Argentine Justice is still investigating whether he got rich in an unlawful way: the judicial case is about to turn ten years old. In that file, prosecutor Ramiro González has just asked for an expansion of expertise on his property, as Infobae learned from judicial sources. The decision is in the hands of Judge Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi. If it moves forward, it would be the last step before deciding whether to finally be summoned to inquiry.

“I ask V.S. to arrange for the referral of the proceedings to the Body of Official Accounting Experts of the CSJN in order to verify, within a mandatory period of 10 days, the data contained in that submission corresponding to the justification of the origin of the funds for the acquisition of the goods contained in the requisition of dated April 14, 2021 informed by Carlos Emilio Liuzzi and Thaiss del Corazón de Jesús Hidalgo,” says the letter sent last week to the court.

The prosecutor refers to a series of submissions made by Liuzzi's defense in December last year to try to justify the investigated assets.

The enrichment case began in 2012 on the basis of a complaint by lawyer Ricardo Monner Sans and went through three judges. Oyarbide, who at the time had a good relationship with Zannini, shelved the file although he left a door open. In 2014, following the scandal of Liuzzi's telephone call to a financier, which exposed the links between the magistrate and the Casa Rosada, prosecutor Patricio Evers (who died in April 2017) asked that it be unarchived. In view of Oyarbide's refusal, the Federal Chamber ordered the reopening of the file and set it aside. The case then went to Luis Rodríguez's court.

Although it had a negative report by Supreme Court expert Hector Roccatagliata, which stated that “it cannot be said that the increase or variation in assets is justified”, in February 2016 Rodriguez signed Liuzzi's dismissal. Nor did he investigate the unusual number of trips abroad. In 2016, the list included 26 flights to the United States (most are to Miami for prolonged treatment with his wife), 52 to Uruguay, 10 to Europe, 9 to Brazil, and 3 striking trips to Panama. There were also trips to Mexico, South Africa, Peru and Chile.

The Federal Chamber reversed the dismissal a month later and handed the case to Martinez De Giorgi.

In 2020, another accounting expertise was completed, signed by the official expert Roccatagliatta, by María Fernanda Sierra (OA accountant), and by the expert hired by Liuzzi. The two official experts found inconsistencies in several real estate transactions, although they did not take into account credit card expenses or travel abroad.

The heritage of Liuzzi

When he landed in La Rosada, Liuzzi owned a house in the Los Lagartos de Pilar country, a piece of land in the same locality, two apartments, a timeshare in Bariloche and two cars: a Peugeot 406 (1997 model) and a Mitsubischi Space Wagon (1996).

Since 2008, his assets have continued to grow.

In 2011, he acquired a 161 m2 apartment on the 35th floor of the Mulieris building, in Puerto Madero, which paid $3,272,400, about $808,000 at the time. Just two years later, 2013, he bought another apartment with his wife on the 42nd floor of the same building. For this property they paid 7,500,000 pesos, supposedly with their State salaries.

In April of last year, prosecutor Ramiro González intimated Liuzzi to justify the increase in his assets. In reality, the intimation concerned only the two apartments and the garages he bought in Puerto Madero while he was a civil servant.

The prosecutor also requested that Liuzzi's wife, a young lawyer whom he met at Casa Rosada, justify the purchase of an apartment in the Olga Cossettini Building ($330,000), a BMW car (US$57,000) and an apartment in the “Yoo” Punta del Este building, in Uruguay ($895,440).

The defense answered the intimacy, accompanied new documentation and requested a measure of proof. With these data, the prosecutor now asked Judge Martínez De Giorgi to order an expansion of the expertise. “The measure has not yet been implemented,” a judicial source confirmed yesterday.

In this case Liuzzi has been represented some time ago by Fernando Arias Caamaño, a criminal lawyer who has as clients several drug traffickers from Rosario such as Mario Segovia, “the King of the Ephedrine”, and Gustavo Ramos, stepbrother of Esteban Alvarado, a drug chief from Rosario who is being held in the Santa Fe prison in Piñero.

Liuzzi's estate is also being investigated in another case being pursued by prosecutor Carlos Rívolo. That file covers the assets of Gustavo Benvenutto, a former partner of Liuzzi suspected of acting as his “front man”.

Benvenutto was the owner of the consultancy firm ADCONSA, hired by the Legal and Technical Secretariat, that is to say by Liuzzi, to computerize the Official Gazette and to develop the computer system of NIC.ar, the body that manages all Internet sites in the country. A millionaire business.

Liuzzi and Benvenutto were already dismissed by Luis Rodriguez at the end of 2015. Because of this background, the Federal Chamber ordered a few months ago to narrow down the investigation that is still open and not to investigate the links between them. “The case was fatally wounded,” admitted a judicial source.

Away from those worries, Liuzzi spends her days in a mansion in Marbella, in Spain. This house of almost 500 m2 was built in 2017, according to records from the Spanish Ministry of Finance obtained by Infobae. But she is not yet registered with the College of Registrars, that is, no one officially owns it.

Inside, the mansion has minimalist lines with modern artwork, sculptures and a home automation system that transforms it into a “smart” home.

It is located in the Nueva Andalucía district, in an area especially sought after because it is surrounded by several golf courses, one of Liuzzi's passions.

The value of such a property starts from 2 million euros, but could exceed 6 million, sources in the real estate sector indicated.

Although there are dozens of photos and videos on social media, no one investigates how that mansion was paid for. “The investigation reaches the end of 2014″, confirmed one researcher.