Prosecutor Gabriela Fossati has four independent cases open as a result of the Astesiano case. The original, which inquired about the management of passports for Russian citizens, the one that investigates irregularities in the National Police, the alleged espionage of two opposition senators and the leak of confidential information to the press. she as she knew The Observerthe former ministerial chief Gustavo Leal is investigated for a crime of concealment in the case of passports for Russians.
In this sense, sources familiar with the investigation pointed out that the meeting between Leal and the parents of former presidential custodian Alejandro Astesiano is one more piece of evidence in the investigative folder.
At the end of the meeting with Fossati, Leal’s lawyer, Diego Camaño, pointed out that the prosecutor only told them that she was investigating him for a cover-up crime, but did not want to give them details about the situation in which this crime would have occurred.
But Camaño had access to the tax file, which is supposed to contain all the evidence that until then the Public Ministry had gathered from the former head of the Ministry of the Interior. Asked at a press conference about whether there was any relevant information in the folder that could account for the reason for the inquiry, the lawyer answered no.
In the folder that was given to Leal, there was a statement from Alejandro Astesiano’s father and brother, issues related to the eventual monitoring of the PIT-CNT president Marcelo Abdala and the actions carried out in the case of passports for Russians, they indicated to The Observer sources familiar with the investigation.
The lawyer warned that “any accused has the right to know the charges that are formulated. Invoking the crime is not enough.” For this reason, Leal refused to testify.
After that, Camaño asked Fossati to close the investigation against the former chief, but the prosecutor refused and announced that she would continue to investigate.
Finally, he indicated that he will evaluate the steps to follow in the coming days, since they understand that Fossati is hindering his right to defense.
Fossati’s complaint
The prosecutor denounced this week before the Prosecutor’s Office to the president of the Broad Front (FA), Fernando Pereiraby defamation and insults. In addition to Pereira, Fossati denounced Alberto Grille –director of the publication Caras y Caretas– already three social media usersreported the journalist Gabriel Pereyra.
On February 22, the leader of the leftist political force criticized Fossati in Desayunos Informales, where he said that the prosecutor had not “acted in accordance with the law“.
“He has not told Leal why he was under investigation,” he warned and stated that “he has not been clear.” “He called many witnesses during this case and the only one who is being investigated is from the opposition,” he said about the investigation to the former director of Coexistence and Citizen Security.
On the other hand, on February 24 in Caras y Caretas Grille published the column entitled: “The right cannot be crooked”. There, Grille criticized Fossati’s decision to agree with Alejandro Astesiano to achieve a conviction for various crimes: conjunction of personal and public interest, criminal association, disclosure of secrets and influence peddling for all the causes in which it was investigated.
Grille wrote that Fossati faced prosecution “complex, short in duration and hasty in completion“. “He left out those above and hit those below with an iron,” he opined.
