The appointment of Juan Bautista Mahiques as Minister of Justice of the government of Javier Milei once again brought to the fore one of the most controversial episodes of his career: the scandal of the trip to Lago Escondido, a case that combined judges, businessmen, chat leaks and accusations of cover-up.
The appointment of Mahiques occurred after the departure of Mariano Cúneo Libarona and responds to an internal reorganization of the libertarian power, in a political negotiation in which they had weight Karina Milei and the presidential environmentwith the aim of consolidating a strong judicial front within the Government.
But beyond his institutional rise, Mahiques’ name carries a controversy that marked his recent career and that became an obligatory reference every time his figure returns to the center of the public scene.
NEWS investigated the scandal that marked his career. Below is the full cover story by journalist Rodis Recalt.
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Secrets of the trip to Lago Escondido: Favors, power and espionage
In September 2021, the Judge Carlos “Coco” Mahiques signed the closing of the case for the sale of the lands in Lago Escondido, in El Bolsón, province of Río Negro. That is to say, his decision benefited English tycoon Joe Lewis and his family.
In December 2016, the judge Julian Ercolini dismissed Hector Magnettothe boss of Clarín and Telecom, in the Papel Prensa case.
In February 2015, the judge Pablo Cayssials suspended the ex officio adaptation of the Clarín Group to the Media Law.
These three judges participated in a trip to the ranch of Joe Lewis in Hidden Lake allegedly organized by directors of Grupo Clarín, with all expenses paid. This means that the magistrates who made decisions favored businessmen and some time later were feted by the beneficiaries.
These revelations emerged more than a month ago in a note from the newspaper Página/12 and were deepened in these hours by the leak of a chat group made up of all the guests on that trip. The case took on a greater public dimension after Alberto Fernández denounced it on national television.
The Hidden Lake Plot
This story begins on October 17 with the publication of the news of the trip. That same day, the protagonists of this story created a Telegram group to organize a public explanation of a trip plagued by irregularities. The protagonists of that chat are the judges Julián Ercolini, Carlos Mahiques, Pablo Cayssials and Pablo Yadarola; the city attorney general, Juan Bautista Mahiques; the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, Marcelo D’Alessandro; former Intelligence agent Leonardo Bergroth and consultant Tomás Reinke; the president of Grupo Clarín, Jorge Rendo, and another director, Pablo Casey, the nephew of Héctor Magnetto.
The leak of this private conversation led to two discussions: on the one hand, about espionage and the publication of a talk that took place in a private setting; and on the other hand, the events that are narrated and the attempt of people who claim to be honorable and upright, devising illegal maneuvers to hide crimes.
On October 19 (two days after learning of the trip), the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, D’Alessandro, He suffered an attack on his telephone line and, among other things, his Telegram messaging service account was seized. The content of that leak was published on a hacking site that offered the complete material by 600 dollars to pay in cryptocurrencies.
The leaked chat group called itself “The Huemules”, in reference to the species of Andean deer that lives in the mountain area they visited. The main reason for the conversation was to contain the impact of the leak of the trip and, from there, criminal maneuvers began to be written to protect themselves. The first reaction is to deny everything that happened and make a complaint of espionage, to block any investigation and cast themselves as the victims. But in parallel they say that they are making calls to obtain invoices that justify the trip by private plane and the accommodation. The main anger is with José Glinski, director of the PSA (Airport Security Police), who is accused of being responsible for the leak.
As expected, those most concerned about the judicial future were the judges, who did not trust the alibi of denying that they had been in Lago Escondido for fear that their presence there could be proven. “The main reportable issue would already be resolved with the invoices,” said Ercolini. He meant that if receipts were obtained showing that each person had paid for their trip and stay, it would be more difficult to accuse them of gifts.
borrowed
According to sources from this magazine, a round trip flight to Bariloche on a private plane costs around 15 thousand dollars plus VAT, if paid with an invoice and everything declared. Without receipts it is cheaper, but this flight, according to the sources consulted, would have been a courtesy from the businessman Gustavo Carmonaowner of the FlyZar company and close friend of Juan Bautista Mahiques. This also arises from the words of the Judge Cayssials: “We cannot say that they gave us the flight.”
To justify the accommodation, according to the chat, they would have asked for trout invoices from Nicolás Van Ditmar, the manager of Lewis’s properties in Argentina. The contact with Van Ditmar would be Tomás Reinkeone of those involved who until a few days ago worked in a Grupo Sentidos company, which manages advertising accounts for different governments. Reinke is the one who usually organizes trips to Lago Escondido with businessmen, politicians and media owners, such as the directors of Clarín who he invited on this occasion, or Fernán Saguier of the newspaper La Nación, who was accompanied from a certain José on a previous trip. According to the chat, the visitors to La Nación would have stolen cigars that belonged to Lewis. Rendo, from Clarín, In another part of the chat, he suggested not inviting them again.
In his audios, the consultant Reinke seemed concerned because he said he had clients who could see a conspiracy in that trip. Among his clients were officials of the government of Alberto Fernández. Due to this scandal, Reinke was separated from Grupo Sentidos starting this month.
There were also repercussions in the Government. At the close of this edition, the head of advisors to the President, Julián Leunda, presented his resignation for having been mentioned by the nephew of Magnetto in the conversation with the judges. Casey He said that Leunda sympathized with him and assured him that nothing would come out about the issue on the channel official C5N.
It was a luxury weekend, with games of poker, paddle tennis, soccer, barbecues and whiskey in the mountains, which they went up by helicopter. All payment. They planned to repeat the experience. Now it will be more difficult.
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