The 12th Turn Flagrant Prosecutor Gabriela Fossati, who is investigating the case of passport falsification, specified that the use of the Guardian (system to obtain legal telephone interceptions by judicial authorization) is not accredited. Presumably, the former head of presidential custody, Alejandro Astesiano, today in prison for different crimes related to this cause, would have mentioned it in a chat. “So far there is no certainty that El Guardian has been used,” Javier Benech, director of Communications of the Court Prosecutor’s Office, informed La R newspaper, who pointed out that he was making the clarification at the request of the prosecutor. He added that if the version is true “it would be very serious” since its use can only be authorized by the Prosecutor’s Office, the justice system. “Just because someone boasts that he can do such a thing doesn’t mean he did it,” he stated. For its part, from the Ministry of the Interior, it was recalled, once again, that the system by which legal interceptions are carried out “gives full guarantees that only through the intervention of a Prosecutor and a competent Judge can they be carried out.” wiretapping, requesting Telecommunications operators to execute the measures provided by Court Order”. “Therefore, it is impossible for there to be an interception without the intervention of the Judge and Prosecutor,” he added. In addition, “it should be noted that the reports of legal interceptions are permanently audited by the Supreme Court of Justice.” “Suggesting, mentioning or affirming that there are legal interceptions without a Court Order is totally false,” said Juan Manuel Romero, the person in charge of Communication at the Ministry of the Interior.
Investigation in Chancery
On the other hand, the Chancellor of the Republic, Francisco Bustillo, appeared at a press conference before the media, and referred to the stage that the case of former custodian Alejandro Astesiano is currently going through, and all the derivations that the cause has brought. “The actions have been taking place within the framework of Justice. So we have little information, to say none except what has been reported by the press,” Bustillo said. He added that in the Foreign Ministry “we are carrying out an investigation, which is administrative, which has been developing with total normality.”
“We are completing the work and obviously after completion if we will put it to the consideration of the Justice also to collaborate if that is the case.” He pointed out that the Foreign Ministry is investigating “the procedures that are followed or that were followed in the case of Sebastián Marset’s passport, or what is now supposedly being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the issuance of passports that in principle would have been concentrated in Moscow , but not necessarily.
The hierarch clarified that at this moment there is no official investigated nor are there anomalous situations. We are simply guided by the press reports”. When asked about the number of people investigated, which could be six, he replied: “I have no idea.”
“In the best of cases, what we want is that the investigation culminates in the best way, clearing up the goals,” he said. “But, above all, if that were the case, to improve procedures but, until now, we are not aware of any person who, in some way, has dabbled in something irregular. This is in the orbit of Justice, and we are attentive to what is resolved ”, remarked the hierarch.
