Miley’s family received $33 million in state subsidies during Kirchnerism
Argentine President Javier Miley, who hates state interventionism, generously fed his family and himself. The transport companies of which his father, Norberto Miley, was president and shareholder, received at least $33 million in subsidies from the state between 2005 and 2007, during the government of Nestor Kirchner. With that money, the far-right president and his sister Karina Miley bought a car and an apartment, according to a journalistic investigation based on official data. There has been no formal reaction from the Casa Rosada to this revelation, but informally they have tried to minimize its importance by explaining that these were events that happened years ago and involved third parties, not the president.
After starting out as a bus driver, Norberto Miley became the shareholder and owner of three transportation companies in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. The flagship of the business group was the firm Francisco de Vidma Sociedad Anónima, formed in 2001, whose function was to control the company Teniente General Roca SA, which in turn had to control half of the shares of the company Rocarazza SA. With Miley Sr. as president, and initially as majority shareholder, as recorded in the firms’ balance sheets, the group operated four bus lines that cross the city of Buenos Aires and its surroundings.
The nation’s Ministry of Transport distributed state subsidies for million-dollar amounts to Lieutenant General Roca SA and Rocaraza SA. Between 2005 and mid-2007 they received the equivalent of at least 33 million dollars. This information comes from forms filed by that organization, according to a joint investigation by the DiarioAR And NationCoordinated by the Latin American Center for Journalistic Investigation (CLIP) and published this Wednesday.
However, the companies documented the receipt of a much smaller amount than the amount disbursed by the national State. With the signature of the current president’s father, the balance sheet presented to the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) declared that the subsidy contribution between 2003 and 2007 was equivalent to approximately 10 million dollars, that is, less than a third of what is recorded in the Ministry of Transport forms.
Help and legacy
State help was crucial to strengthening the fortunes of the presidential family. The transport subsidy policy established by the Peronist governments after the 2001 political, social and economic crisis in Argentina allowed the firm Teniente General Roca SA, which had collapsed and declared bankruptcy in 2002, to pay off its debts.
Beto Miley, as the president’s father is known, sold his stake in the bus companies in 2006, but remained as an executive of the group until mid-2007, then he started other business ventures linked to transportation and agricultural exploitation. And his children also benefited from this. Karina Miley, who is today the Secretary General of the Presidency, was able to acquire a 150 square meter apartment in one of the most affluent areas of Vicente López in the Buenos Aires suburbs. In her sworn statement before the Office of Anti-Corruption (OA), He explained that it was an “inheritance”. Xavier Meili used a Ford Ecosport 2.0 vehicle, model 2005, which he later sold and, adding other resources, bought a Peugeot RCZ. His statement before the OA assures that he acquired it in 2013 with “his own money”.
While the Argentine president has promised to eliminate all forms of state subsidies, and has reiterated at every opportunity that the State is “a criminal organization” that must be dismantled, his father, in his role as a transport businessman, had recognized the contribution of the public coffers to the sector and, incidentally, requested more funding, as stated in a 2003 report by the firm Teniente General Roca SA: “We cannot ignore the effort that the national government is making to mitigate this emergency of our activity, avoiding generating an increase in costs for the population that uses the service by subsidizing companies, in any case it is clear that it is insufficient.
unpaid taxes
Perhaps there is some agreement between Miley father and son regarding taxes. President Miley has defined them as “robbery”. Meanwhile, his father’s companies accumulated millions of dollars in debt to the State due to non-payment. Journalistic investigations coordinated by CLIP revealed that the companies left unpaid settlements from the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP), the National Social Security Administration (ANSES) and the Buenos Aires Collection Agency (ARBA). For example, the Rocarazza firm entered a moratorium plan in 2005 for debts on taxes called gross income and vehicle filings. A court ruling in 2005 determined that the firm Teniente General Roca SA evaded taxes. Beto Miley himself had a similar performance as a taxpayer and added four tax executions initiated by the AFIP before judicial courts.
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(tags to translate)Argentina