The lawyer Nicolás Ghizzo, who defends the owner of the whiskey Centennial Town City Night (Peach) charged this Friday by prosecutor Alicia Ghione for repeated crimes of human trafficking in the form of sexual exploitationsaid to The Observer that your client did not commit that crime and that there is no evidence in this regard.
Ghizzo explained that the norm establishes that for this crime to be configured there must be “recruitment and recruitment for the purpose of exploitation”, which is not the case in this case, according to what he said.
The lawyer pointed out that the women who work in the nightclub (around 30) did so voluntarily and who came on the recommendation of another worker. “In the investigation folder are all the audios (from WhatsApp). They all testify in favor of him because no one has treated them like him,” Ghizzo said.
“There is no victim here. The alleged victims want to testify in favor of the defendant, they want to play the role of witness on behalf of the defendant, ”she stressed.
The lawyer described that his client owned two padrones. In one, the whiskey bar worked without the corresponding authorization due to the “delays” due to Covid (he affirms that it was in the process of regularization), and in the other there were several rooms for sexual encounters.
Lawyer Nicolas Ghizzo
Ghizzo explained that his client charged $300 for the half-hour rental of the room and kept 50% of the consumption of the drink at the bar. But he clarified that she did not receive money from what the women arranged with the men who visited City Night. “She does not participate or have benefits for what the girl arranged with the client.” She also claimed that the women who worked there had the option of going to a hotel if they wanted to.
The lawyer said that the whiskey had no irregularities and that “the commissioner was aware of everything.”
“It has been operational for a year and a half with the knowledge of the Ministry of the Interior and the Public Health authorities.” In fact, she explained that the women had a day and time in December to renew their prophylaxis card.
He further argued that in this case there was no complaint from the women or a relative of them. The investigation arises from a listening that they were carrying out in the framework of the Turquoise Operation and then he was renamed Shark.
“They were left without work in the middle of December. But here there is no irregularity or anything. There are no minors or drug issues. They were all of legal age, with an average of 35 years. And the foreigners are all documented, ”she stressed.
The defendant was arrested on Thursday and his formalization occurred a day later without his statement. At the time of his arrest, he had a clean record sheet. In 2011 he had been prosecuted without prison for manipulating a UTE meter and that same year he had also been prosecuted for a crime of personal injury. Both sentences were served.
During the search of his home, the police found US$210,882.96, a 9-millimeter pistol, three pistol magazines and ammunition, six cell phones, among other items.
Lawyer recognized at the hearing that his client had the weapon in violation since he did not transfer the deed at the time of purchase nor does he have a license to carry weapons. For this reason, the prosecutor also charged him with a crime of arms and ammunition trafficking.
As for the money, Ghizzo said his client has more than 30 rental properties and has all the contracts to prove it. He pointed out that the money comes from rent and private loans “without usury or illegality.”
