Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Lawmakers approve Ciccone expropriation bill

The Lower House of Congress has approved the bill that declares the mint South American Values Company (CSV), formerly known as Ciccone Calcográfica, of public use and subject to expropriation by the national government, in a special session.

After almost nine hours of debate, the government-sponsored bill was approved in general by 145 votes in favour, 77 against and 5 abstained.

Before the final vote, the head of the Victory Front bloc, Agustín Rossi, defended the bill and the Vice-President Amado Boudou: "He wasn't even summoned to be questioned, he is not indicted."

"Three months ago, the opposition supported the takeover, and now they don't vote in favour because it's a bill sponsored by the Argentine State," Rossi continued.

The decision to expropriate the printing company comes four months after court officials raided an apartment owned by Vice-President Amado Boudou to see if he acted improperly to benefit the company.

The bill was cleared for debate on Tuesday during a session involving the Constitutional Affairs, Budget and General Legislation Committees in the Lower House after being approved by the Senate last Thursday.

Yesterday saw a fierce debate between national government and opposition deputies regarding the expropriation, which is controversial as Ciccone Calcográfica was restored from bankruptcy by a company whose owners are unknown but who is represented by persons connected to Vice-President Amado Boudou.

The fuse was lit by centre-right PRO deputy Laura Alonso, who described the Vice-President as “corrupt.”

“(Amado) Boudou is corrupt. He is a corrupt politician, and the President (Cristina Fernández de Kirchner), instead of ordering him to prove his innocence, asks for a parliamentary majority to cover it up,” said Alonso during the debate.

Victory Front deputy Roberto Feletti responded by asking Alonso to “stop pre-judging, because you have a City mayor (PRO leader Mauricio Macri) who is on trial and should have already resigned."