Buenos Aires, February 16 (NA) - José Lucas Magioncalda, the lawyer who filed the complaint known online as 'Sturzegate,' stated that in the contracting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Argentine Association of English Culture (AACI) for $114,044,133, a step considered 'fundamental' for transparency was allegedly omitted: the publication of the file on the website of the Anticorruption Office (OA). The requirement stems from article 4, subsection b, of Decree 202/2017, which orders 'full publicity' of the proceedings on both the contractor's website and the OA's website, as learned by the Argentine News Agency. In an interview with La Nación +, Magioncalda maintained that the 'central' publication on the OA's website did not materialize, and he argued that this alleged omission makes the contract 'null and void.' According to the complainant, the government's defense rested on two axes: that there was a previous contract in 2024 and that Rouillet would be an employee (not the owner) of the entity. In this context, Magioncalda stated that they filed a criminal complaint and requested that the justice system also review whether there were updates to sworn statements and the characterization of the relationship during 2024, when Sturzenegger took office mid-year. The award was formalized by Resolution DI-2026-06694033-APN-SSCYAE #MRE, within file EX-2025-132767865-APN-DCYC #MRE and procedure 26-0033-CDI25 (Simple Award by Specialty). In the considerations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded that, based on the Statement of Interest, a 'positive link' arose between María Josefina Rouillet (identified in the file as a director of the AACI) and Minister Federico Sturzenegger, which activated the protocol of Decree 202/2017.
