Buenos Aires, Jan. 22 (NA) – The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation rejected the defense's motions for businessman Pablo Emanuel Arequipa and confirmed the 60-day extension of his detention in the case of the multi-million dollar aggravated grain smuggling in Salta. The decision was made by the holiday session of the country's highest criminal court, composed of judges Alejandro Slokar and Juan Carlos Gemignani, who dismissed the appeal against the ruling of the Federal Chamber of Salta that had ratified the continuation of the preventive detention. According to the ruling, the refusal to mitigate the detention was maintained because Arequipa had fled to Paraguay when he was about to be arrested, refused to voluntarily hand over his cell phone, and had allegedly deleted relevant elements for the investigation, as reported by the Argentine News Agency. The case was initiated based on a complaint from the Tartagal delegation of the Revenue and Customs Control Agency (ARCA), and also includes as an accused the former provincial deputy for Cambiemos, Luis Gerónimo Cisneros. According to the investigation, the accused are alleged to have transported more than 15 billion kilograms of soybeans, wheat, and corn to a warehouse located in Salvador Mazza, whose rear part leads to Bolivian territory, through which the cargo would have left. ARCA estimated the damage from evaded export tariffs for 2024 at about 3 million dollars, while Cassation considered that no arbitrariness had been proven in the previous decisions and ratified Arequipa's stay in the Salta Federal Prison.
