Ex-Argentina VP Boudou arrested in corruption case
BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) - Amado Boudou, who had been former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s economy minister and vice president, was arrested on corruption charges yesterday, becoming the second major official in her government to face detention.
Police arrested Boudou and an alleged associate, Jose Maria Nunez Carmona, in an upscale neighbourhood of Buenos Aires for racketeering and money laundering.
Local television showed Boudou, grim-faced and wearing a plain black Tshirt, as he stood beside two bearded security officers. In other photographs broadcast on television, he was in handcuffs, standing in what appeared to be his home.
Boudou’s lawyer denounced the arrest on Friday, calling it “arbitrary.”
“We never had any problems, and overnight, just in the week that there is a complaint to the Magistrates Council, the arrest was ordered,” attorney Eduardo Duranona said on local television.
The 55-year-old economist faces three counts of “illicit enrichment” dating back to 2009, the year he was promoted from heading Argentina’s social security administration to become Fernandez’s economy minister.
He became vice president in 2011, when Fernandez won reelection. But he was largely absent from public view during that four-year term as accusations of corruption mounted against him.