Uruguay
Gandini defended his wife’s collection office and said he is at the disposal of the Justice system
The National Party leader said the man convicted of money laundering did not handle dollars at that business and stressed that there are camera records and audio recordings. He also said he received support from Luis Lacalle Pou.
Jorge Gandini again referred to the case of Pablo Leiva, convicted of money laundering, and said that both he, his wife and the women in charge of the collection office are at the disposal of the Prosecutor’s Office, according to an interview cited by El País.
According to that outlet, the opposition director of the National Ports Administration said he decided to speak publicly to offer explanations after Leiva’s conviction became known. Leiva was an adviser to Montevideo city councilor Gonzalo Gómez of the National Party and was linked to the former senator’s faction.
Gandini said that the business run by his wife did not carry out the operations attributed to the convicted man. According to El País, he said Leiva was not a dollar client but rather went there to pay BPS invoices for two construction companies for the past two and a half years. He also said the premises measure two by four meters, have four service windows, staff at each shift and 14 cameras that record movements, in addition to audio recordings from the last 13 months.
Still according to that outlet, he added that if one wants to reconstruct how Leiva operated, one would have to follow the trail of those invoices, and stressed that the company’s control system works in real time and has compliance officers. In that line, he invited authorities to review the records of the premises and the corresponding reports to verify whether any breach occurred.
Regarding the convicted man’s relationship with the Montevideo Departmental Board, Gandini said, according to El País, that he did not know Leiva had been hired as an adviser to Gonzalo Gómez. He explained that his group had suggested two names for the councilor’s office and that the rest of the appointments were defined by Gómez himself. He also said he expects to speak with the leader when he returns from China.
The National Party leader also said that Leiva never militated in his list and distinguished that situation from that of his son, who remains as an adviser to the councilor despite internal criticism. Finally, he said he spoke with former president Luis Lacalle Pou and received his backing, El País reported.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
