Rosario, March 28 (NA) – The Federal Chamber of Rosario confirmed the processing of Federal Judge Gastón Alberto Salmain, accused of demanding 200,000 dollars in exchange for a ruling, and placed him one step away from an oral trial in a case for alleged judicial corruption. The court also upheld the ban on leaving the country and the order of detention to be carried out at his home, although it will not be enforced for the time being as he maintains his status as a magistrate. Additionally, it confirmed the processing of judicial operator Santiago Busaniche and set a embargo of 10 million pesos for each. The decision was made by judges Silvana Andalaf Casiello, Aníbal Pineda, and Elida Vidal, and now the defenses could appeal to the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation. According to the ruling, accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the fact attributed to Salmain “constitutes an unusual seriousness” due to him being an active judge and the impact on the justice service and its credibility. Salmain is accused of failing to fulfill the duties of a public official, aggravated passive bribery, and malfeasance, in a case where, along with a repentant financier and a notary identified as a judicial operator, he allegedly manipulated a file to favor a trust with the transfer of 10 million dollars abroad between September 2023 and April 2024. Financier Fernando Whpei testified that he held meetings with the judge and Busaniche to advance the operation, and stated that the agreed payment was 10 percent of the operation, in cash, delivered to the intermediary. According to the file, the plan did not materialize as planned, and after a change in the value of the dollar, the amount of the alleged bribe was reduced to 20,000 dollars, which would have led to threats and a subsequent complaint. The Chamber rejected the nullity claims of the defenses and considered that the testimony of the repentant is corroborated by other evidence, such as communication records and the magistrate's behavior in the analyzed file. In this sense, the judges pointed out that Whpei's statements were key to establishing the possible criminal liability of the accused and that there are numerous indications that, analyzed together, allow for the probability of the crime. Likewise, the court understood that Salmain's action was not a simply debatable legal decision, but he could not have been deceived in the face of the warnings of the Central Bank in the file. IP The participation of Busaniche as an intermediary between the financier and the judge was also accredited. In parallel, the Council of the Judiciary is conducting an investigation against Salmain, who had already been questioned for inconsistencies in his curriculum and for precedents in the Judicial Power, while the Accusation Commission evaluates the steps to follow.
