ARGENTINA: "VALIJAGATE" JUDGE DENIES DEFENDANT'S

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000532 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KCOR SNAR CJAN KFRD AR SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: "VALIJAGATE" JUDGE DENIES DEFENDANT'S REQUEST TO EXCLUDE U.S. EVIDENCE LINKED TO FRANKLIN DURAN TRIAL REF: (A) BUENOS AIRES 0069 (B) 08 BUENOS AIRES 1672 ¶1. (SBU) Investigating Judge Daniel Petrone ruled May 5 against an appeal by lawyers for former Argentine government official Claudio Uberti to dismiss evidence from the Miami trial of Franklin Duran. The local investigation into the infamous suitcase carried by Venezuelan-American Guido Antonini-Wilson, seized by customs at Buenos Aires' Aeroparque airport with USD 800,000 in undeclared cash on August 4, 2007, was limited late last year to a misdemeanor charge of either money-laundering or contraband, per reftel ¶B. ¶2. (SBU) According to the press, Uberti's lawyers filed a motion against court translation and consideration of recordings of Duran and other suspects in the Antonini-Wilson case as well as court transcripts from the trial. Uberti's lawyers reportedly argued that recordings made without the consent of the accused or without a court order were not admissible under Argentine law. Petrone, however, ruled that since the recordings were considered admissible in a U.S. court, he would not reject them without first studying them. ¶3. (SBU) Uberti, the former regulator of highway toll concessions, is the only Argentine charged in the case. He was fired soon after discovery of the suitcase when he was implicated in authorizing Antonini-Wilson to board the GOA-chartered flight from Caracas to Buenos Aires. Uberti, who was a fundraiser for Kirchner campaigns in 2003, 2005, and 2007, recently resurfaced in the news for having "encouraged" many Argentine firms to participate in a spurious trade fair. Some of the businessmen contacted by Uberti subsequently complained that they were pressured to pay excessive fees to set up stands in a "phantom fair" that was unadvertised and unattended, and they alleged that they believed the fees were destined for Kirchner campaign funds. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: It has been a long time since any developments have been reported in Judge Petrone's "investigation" of the Antonini-Wilson case, and the demure coverage of this tentative procedural ruling is a far cry from the breathless, sensationalist treatment this scandal got when it first broke and derailed our bilateral relations -- proving once again that Argentine scandals, like old soldiers, don't die; they just fade away. KELLY