Development: On 19 February, Argentina’s state news agency Telam confirmed the resignation of Valentín Díaz Gilligan, the deputy secretary of Argentina’s presidency.
Significance: In what is a major embarrassment for President Mauricio Marci, Díaz Gilligan (a close ally of the president) resigned after being accused of concealing US$1.2m in the European principality of Andorra. With calls for finance minister Luis Caputo to similarly step down over his alleged failure to declare his links to off-shore companies, the opposition Frente para la Victoria (FPV, Kirchneristas) has been quick to seize on the scandal.
- On 16 February, Argentina’s federal anti-corruption bureau (OA) announced it was launching an investigation into Díaz Gilligan who had been in the post since 2015, following a report by Spanish newspaper El País published the same day, which claimed he hid the money in Andorra between 2012 and 2014. According to El País, the account was opened in 2012 when Díaz Gilligan was advisor to the Buenos Aires municipal government and was active at least until December 2014 at which point Díaz Gilligan had served for a year as director general of tourism promotion for the Buenos Aires town council.
- The account was in the name of a British company, Line Action (100% owned by Panamanian company Nashville North Inc), which represents soccer players. At the time, the newspaper reports, Díaz Gilligan was a company shareholder.
- The same El País report cited Díaz Gilligan as denying that the money belonged to him, instead claiming that Brazilian-born football agent Francisco Casal, a personal friend, had requested that he deposit the money in Andorra on his behalf.
- The OA has announced that it has requested information from the financial information unit and from the Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA).
- Díaz Gilligan’s resignation followed pressure from across the political spectrum, including the ruling centre-right Cambiemos coalition which had been calling for President Macri to suspend him at least on a temporary basis while his situation was being clarified.
- Díaz Gilligan is not the only top official under pressure over corruption. Finance Minister Luis Caputo has also come under scrutiny after the OA announced on 15 February that it had requested information from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following reports that Caputo had failed to declare his connections to offshore companies in the Cayman Islands when he took office in December 2015.
- Caputo’s alleged links to these off-shore companies previously emerged in November 2017 with the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’ - a huge data leak by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Looking Ahead: The FPV has been quick to seize on the scandal involving Díaz Gilligan, filing an appeal before the judiciary accusing him of money laundering and malicious omission for failing to disclose the funds before the OA.
