The custodian of President Luis Lacalle Pou, Alejandro Astesiano, used the facilities of the Executive Tower to carry out the illicit activities for which he is now charged, according to information from the Prosecutor’s Office accessed by various media outlets.
The custodian was on the 4th floor of the Presidency of the Republic, with a notary named AF and a person of Russian nationality, named AS, also charged in the same case. This information was provided by prosecutor Gabriela Fossati, stating that “On one occasion the three met, but in general the meetings were between AF and Artesiano, and the first was with S.” apart.
According to publications by journalist Diego Píriz, from Underlined, the criminal gang was looking for signatures in nursing homes; elderly residents of these places recognized Russian citizens as relatives, with which they obtained natural Uruguayan citizenship.
The accused also exchanged documentation of Russians through WhatsApp and Telegram, messaging applications through which money was also discussed.
“The concrete thing is that you have to call the director of my friend who gives you a date but you have to enter him with a folder (sic)” or “I cannot convey to him that you are nervous because he downloads them. They don’t give an egg about the money you understand (sic) ”, reads a message dated December 15, 2021.
Astesiano’s contacts would be the ones who organized the paperwork, and indicated exactly what had to be written on the documents. “Ta ta he was looking at the issue of the documents, what he has to put, later everything was arranged, he told me, ta only the issue of the documents, what are they going to put (sic)”, says another of the messages transcribed in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office.
And in another communication with one of his contacts, he stated: “You don’t know how bo are working, he seriously told you, we went to the other bo’s house, who has the computer they worked on when they were in a pandemic with all the accesses, the crazy people working on it there , not really I tell you bo, what’s more they want to give me this if they can do it that is worth a fortune, slen almost 50 Lucas are doing it with that to see if they can do it that’s why I tell you no noo (sic) “.
Fired
This Tuesday, Lacalle Pou ordered that Astesiano be removed from his position as presidential custodian, after being charged with the three crimes of alleged marital status in real reiteration, criminal association and influence peddling.
The president had said hours before that he was going to wait “for Justice to speak, and then we’ll see”.
At a press conference, he denied knowing why the hearing in which the custodian was charged was declared reserved. “I sure don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
