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Angelina Abbona

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Angelina Abbona
National Treasury Attorney of Argentina [es]
In office
10 December 2011 – 10 December 2015
PresidentCristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded byJoaquín Pedro da Rocha
Succeeded byCarlos Balbín
Personal details
Born
Angelina María Esther Abbona

(1951-11-08) 8 November 1951 (age 73)
San Rafael, Argentina
Political party
SpouseEnrique Mengarelli
EducationNational University of Córdoba
OccupationJurist

Angelina María Esther Abbona (born 8 November 1951) is an Argentine jurist who served as the country's National Treasury Attorney [es] from 10 December 2011 to 10 December 2015, during the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Biography

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Angelina Abbona was born in San Rafael on 8 November 1951, and spent her childhood and adolescence in the city of Mendoza.[1][2]

During the 1970s, she attended the National University of Córdoba. She was a member of the Marxist–Leninist Communist student group – part of the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) – where she met the Cordoban student Carlos Zannini.[1][3] She earned her law degree in 1976.[4] The following year, together with her husband, Enrique "Mengueche" Mengarelli and other militants of his group, Abbona moved to Río Gallegos to escape from persecution by general Luciano Benjamín Menéndez under the country's civil-military dictatorship.[5] A few years later, Zannini would follow them.[1][6]

Abbona practiced law in Río Gallegos. Through Zannini – who had created and led a sector of Kirchnerism called the Línea Córdoba – she met Néstor Kirchner. When he became governor of Santa Cruz Province, she was appointed state prosecutor.[5] She served in the post for eight years.[1]

Her close friendship with the Minister of Social Development, Alicia Kirchner, led to her being appointed internal auditor of the Ministry of Social Development in 2004. She returned to public management in Santa Cruz with governor Daniel Peralta, who appointed her president of the Court of Accounts in 2007.[1][5]

On 22 December 2010, in Buenos Aires, Abbona replaced Joaquín Pedro da Rocha in an ad honórem appointment as Argentine National Treasury Attorney [es] – head of the State Lawyers Corps – a position with ministerial hierarchy and reporting directly to the president.[1][3][7] She was the first woman to hold the post. Her appointment was ratified on 10 December 2011 by decree of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. In office, she promoted Expediente 36.549/2012 – HSBC Bank Argentina, under opinion 83/2008 of the National Treasury Attorney.[8] She also initiated the investigation of the Argentine Rural Society [es] for the irregular sale of a property in 1982.[9] She promoted the complaint together with Juan Manuel Abal Medina Jr., head of the Cabinet of Ministers, against judge Luis Antonio Armella, head of Federal Court No. 1 of Quilmes, because a group of companies linked to him had obtained valuable contracts for the cleanup of the Matanza River basin without bidding.[10] The case eventually reached the Council of Magistracy, which handed down an opinion proposing the elevation of Armella to a jury of prosecution.

In 2010, Abbona criminally denounced the US hedge fund Burford Capital and the Spanish Grupo Marsans, former concessionaire of Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral, for alleged "procedural fraud". In 2015, she filed a complaint against Burford Capital, Grupo Marsans, and the law firm Alejandro Fargosi and Associates for an alleged fraud due to the lawsuit they filed against the Argentine government for the expropriation of Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral.[11] Per an account in the Spanish newspaper El País,

Argentina argued in its criminal complaint that not only did it reject the tourist group's claim before ICSID, but that Marsans is a "debtor of the Argentine Republic" for "having left the airline in a ruinous situation," according to the Argentine Treasury Attorney, Angelina Abbona, who threatened to claim 1 billion from Marsans for its management of Aerolíneas.[12]

Abbona, together with the Prosecutor Against Economic Crime and Money Laundering, Carlos Gonella, filed a criminal complaint for alleged fraud against the Argentine State against the owners of Marsans, including Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, who were convicted by a Spanish court as "perpetrators criminally responsible for a crime against the Public Treasury" for evading 99 million euros of corporate tax in 2001, when Air Comet bought Aerolíneas Argentinas.[13] Abbona and Gonella also filed a complaint with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Spanish group for damages caused by the alleged deficient administration and the ruin of Aerolíneas.[14]

Prosecution for coverup

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Abbona was prosecuted in 2016 by federal judge Luis Rodríguez for failing to denounce crimes "ex officio", and for "hindering the investigations necessary to determine the responsibility of Grupo Marsans in the clearing out of Aerolíneas Argentinas."[15] He ordered 1 million pesos (US$20,000) of her assets seized in conjunction with the case.[16] This ruling was confirmed by Chamber Two of the federal courts in October 2017.[17]

Positions held

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  • Legal advisor of the National Highway Directorate [es]'s Santa Cruz district
  • 1983–1985: Legal advisor to the Undersecretariat of Commerce, Mining, and Maritime Interests, Ministry of Economy and Public Works of Santa Cruz Province
  • 1987–1991: Legal advisor to the Municipality of Río Gallegos
  • 1991–1992: Head of the Administrative Department of the Legal Area, Public Services Society of Santa Cruz Province
  • 1992–1995: Manager of the Public Services Society of Santa Cruz Province
  • 1995–2003: State prosecutor of Santa Cruz Province
  • 2003–2007: Titular internal auditor of the Ministry of Social Development
  • 2007–2010: President of the Honorable Court of Accounts of Santa Cruz Province
  • 2011–2015: National Treasury Attorney of Argentina [es]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Arias, Mariela (23 December 2010). "Siempre a la sombra del poder" [Always in the Shadow of Power]. La Nación (in Spanish). Río Gallegos. Retrieved 17 August 2021.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ CFP 14305/2015 (PDF) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Judicial Branch of Argentina. 6 December 2017. p. 7. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Asume en un puesto clave otra patagónica" [Another Patagonian Assumes a Key Position]. La Nación (in Spanish). 23 December 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2021.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Autoridades" (in Spanish). Office of the National Treasury Attorney. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Cristina echó del Gobierno a Da Rocha, un peronista histórico" [Cristina Expels Da Rocha, a Historic Peronist, From the Government]. Clarín (in Spanish). 23 December 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  6. ^ Ventura, Adrián (23 December 2010). "Señales ambiguas desde lo más alto del poder" [Ambiguous Signals From the Highest Levels of Power]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Angelina Abbona, nueva Procuradora del Tesoro" [Angelina Abbona, New Treasury Attorney]. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  8. ^ Exp. 36.549/2012 – 'HSBC Bank Argentina S.A. c/ UIF – Resol 141/12 SUM 672/10' (PDF) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Judicial Branch of Argentina. 14 July 2015. p. 2. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  9. ^ Verbitsky, Horacio (30 December 2012). "Política, saqueos y negocios" [Politics, Looting, and Business]. Página/12 (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  10. ^ "El juez Armella en la cuerda floja" [Judge Armella Walking a Tightrope]. Página/12 (in Spanish). 6 November 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  11. ^ "Argentina denuncia a Marsans ante CIADI por fraude en el caso de Aerolíneas" [Argentina Denounces Marsans Before ICSID for Fraud in the Aerolíneas Case]. Hosteltur (in Spanish). 14 September 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  12. ^ Muñoz, Ramon (30 April 2016). "Argentina podrá seguir adelante con su denuncia contra Marsans" [Argentina Will be Able to Go Forward With its Complaint Against Marsans]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  13. ^ "El ex socio de Lanata condenado a dos años por vaciar Aerolíneas" [Lanata's Former Partner Sentenced to Two Years for Clearing Out Aerolíneas]. Diario Registrado (in Spanish). 28 May 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  14. ^ "La Procelac denuncia a un fondo especulativo y al grupo Marsans por transferir el juicio sobre Aerolíneas" [PROCELAC Denounces a Hedge Fund and Grupo Marsans for Transferring the Judgment on Aerolíneas]. La Prensa (in Spanish). 14 September 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Procesaron a Angelina Abbona, la ex procuradora del Tesoro kirchnerista" [Angelina Abbona, the Kirchnerist Former Treasury Attorney, Prosecuted] (in Spanish). Infobae. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  16. ^ "El Juez federal Luis Rodríguez Embargo bienes de Angelina Abbona por un millón de pesos" [Federal Judge Luis Rodríguez Seizes One Million Pesos of Angelina Abbona's Assets] (in Spanish). Radio Noticias. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Confirman el procesamiento de Angelina Abbona por no denunciar irregularidades en aerolíneas" [Prosecution of Angelina Abbona for Not Reporting Irregularities at Aerolíneas Confirmed]. Buenos Aires Económico (in Spanish). 6 October 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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