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Viewing cable 08BUENOSAIRES1742, ARGENTINES NOT SHOCKED THERE'S CORRUPTION GOING

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08BUENOSAIRES1742 2008-12-23 19:27 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Buenos Aires
VZCZCXYZ0013
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1742/01 3581927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231927Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2764
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1171
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1916
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0215
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001742 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KCOR PREL EFIN AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINES NOT SHOCKED THERE'S CORRUPTION GOING 
ON: MUTED REACTION TO SIEMENS REVELATIONS 
 
REF: BUENOS AIRES 1164 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: German company Siemens' December 15 guilty 
plea with the U.S. Department of Justice-Fraud Section, over 
corrupt practices, including payments of bribes to officials 
in previous Argentine governments, has provoked sustained 
attention in the Argentine press but no major reaction from 
government or from the public.  Argentine federal prosecuting 
judge Ariel Lijo, in charge of the Argentine investigation of 
Siemens, contacted DOJ Attorney at post December 22 to 
request assistance, but has no plans to travel to the United 
States.  He said he would travel to Germany to collect 
evidence.  Although the GOA initially was moderately 
concerned that the Siemens plea agreement suggested 
continuing payments to GOA officials through 2007 -- thus 
potentially implicating the 2003-2007 government of President 
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's (CFK) husband, Nestor 
Kirchner -- press reports of a December 17 letter from the 
local Siemens affiliate to the GOA denying any payments under 
the Kirchner governments appear to have assuaged that 
concern.  Although the CFK government appears not to have any 
problems with evidence surfacing of Menem-era corruption, it 
may not make too much hay out of this guilty plea for fear of 
eliciting calls for similar degrees of transparency and 
investigation into more recent government deals.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The December 15 announcement of a guilty plea by 
German company Siemens under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt 
Practices Act, as well as revelations from the related case 
in Germany, have attracted sustained press attention in 
Argentina.  The media have drawn obvious conclusions from the 
reports' identification of bribe recipients by initials and 
titles to tag former President Carlos Menem, his Interior 
Minister Carlos Corach, and Immigration Director Hugo Franco 
as recipients of millions of dollars in bribes paid by 
Siemens to win a bloated $1.2 billion 1998 contract to issue 
high-tech national identity cards to all Argentines.  In 
addition, press has focused on the possibility of bribes paid 
to officials in the subsequent de la Rua government, when the 
discredited Siemens contract was renegotiated before 
eventually being rescinded. 
 
3. (SBU) The government of President Cristina Feranandez de 
Kirchner (CFK) reportedly took issue at first with the plea 
agreement's language of bribes and other illicit activities 
by Siemens extending from 1998 to 2007, which suggested at 
least illicit activities under the government of CFK's 
husband, former President Nestor Kirchner (NK, 2003-2007). 
USG sources quoted by the local press, however, indicated 
that no government officials in the Nestor Kirchner or 
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administrations had been 
implicated.  On December 17, the President of Siemens 
Argentina, Enrique Antonio Genzone, was reported by the press 
(La Nacion, December 18) to have written to CFK Minister of 
Planning Julio de Vido to report that the bribes occurred 
"only under the Menem government," or "not since 2003" (a 
"clarification" that contains an apparent contradiction 
regarding the 1999-2001 de la Rua government).  Siemens took 
out a full-page ad in major Argentine newspapers over the 
weekend of December 20 to repeat its statement that neither 
Kirchner government was involved in the corruption. 
 
Requests for Assistance 
----------------------- 
 
4. (U) Argentine press have drawn attention to a reported 
provision of the U.S. plea agreement that requires Siemens to 
fully cooperate with foreign governments investigating the 
cases of corruption affecting them.  This was described as an 
"open door" and an unprecedented opportunity for Argentina to 
investigate local corrupt practices, with some questioning of 
whether the GOA was responding with enough energy to the case. 
 
5. (SBU) Embassy has received two GOA approaches about 
possible requests for assistance under our Mutual Legal 
Assistance Treaty (MLAT).  First, officials from the Ministry 
of Justice's Anti-Corruption Office contacted Legat on 
December 19 to request assistance in obtaining the plea 
agreement, and in particular confirmation of the names of 
those referred to by their initials and title as well as 
details on evidence that the bribes were paid.  On December 
22, federal investigating judge Ariel Lijo contacted DOJ 
Attorney at Post to request help in obtaining a certified 
 
copy of the complaint against Siemens and the plea agreement. 
 In addition, he requested help obtaining the German audit of 
Siemens.  DOJ Attorney at Post is working with DOJ 
prosecutors on Lijo's request for the U.S. public documents 
and inquiring regarding the availability, through U.S. 
channels, of the German audit. 
 
Denials 
------- 
 
6. (U) After a day of silence, former President Carlos Menem 
issued a denial that he had accepted any bribes, calling the 
allegations "malicious."  Officials in the de la Rua 
administration have engaged in a more robust bout of 
finger-pointing, arguing over who was responsible for 
considering a renegotiation of the Siemens contract even 
after official reports of irregularities had been issued by 
the semi-autonomous GAO-equivalent Sindicatura General de la 
Nacion (SIGEN). 
 
A Good Fit with the Kirchner Narrative, But... 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
7. (SBU) Comment:  Generally, the Siemens revelations fit 
well with the Kirchner narrative that former President Carlos 
Menem's march to privatize the economy was a process larded 
with corrupt deals.  The detailed and convincing charges now 
leveled against Menem and his associates offer something more 
concrete than Argentine justice has been able to produce to 
date.  This may also play out in Argentina's favor in the 
realm of investment disputes, given that the CFK government 
has sought to annul the February 2007 ICSID ruling that 
awarded Siemens $217.8 million for the GoA's 2001 
cancellation of the identity card project. (The ICSID 
arbitral panel ruled that the de la Rua government decision 
to rescind the identify card contract was a breach of 
contract under the Argentina-Germany Bilateral Investment 
Treaty.  See reftel for background.) 
 
8. (SBU) Comment continued: Still, the CFK administration may 
be reluctant to make too much of the case given widespread 
suspicions that all is not entirely right in the current (and 
previous) government's public licitation processes.  Official 
corruption in Argentina is not the province of one former 
government or one wing of the Peronists, and too much 
attention to the Siemens case, it may be feared, might 
encourage the public to demand even greater and broader 
scrutiny to contracts.  We can't help but note to ourselves 
that the DOJ and SEC pursuit of Siemens (by implicating 
Kirchner opponent Menem rather than a Kirchner official) 
serendipitously undermines the Kirchner assertions of a vast 
USG conspiracy against them. 
WAYNE