By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, May 23 2001 (IPS)

Argentine justice authorities ordered the arrest Wednesday of former defence minister Erman González – a prominent figure during the Carlos Menem government (1990-1990) – for his alleged participation in smuggling gunpowder to Croatia.

González was taken to the Buenos Aires squadron of the Gendarmerie (military border police) after being charged with “aggravated contraband” by judge Julio Speroni as part of a case involving the financial crimes entailed in illegal arms trafficking to Croatia in 1991 and 1993, and to Ecuador in 1995.

“We have already filed a request for his release with the Federal Chamber of Appeals,” reported Carlos Fromen, González’s defence attorney, stressing that until the trial is underway, the “principle of presumed innocence should rule.”

But under Argentine law, because the crime carries a mandatory prison sentence of four to 12 years, the accused cannot be released from custody.

In addition to ordering González’s arrest, judge Speroni imposed a million-dollar freeze on his assets.

González served as minister of defence from 1991 to 1993, and also had stints in the health, economy and labour ministries during the Menem administration. The former president himself has been subpoenaed to testify in the main arms smuggling case, under federal judge Jorge Urso.

González was also once Argentina’s ambassador to Italy and held the assistant directorship post at the Banco Provincial of La Rioja, the northern province where Menem served as governor for three terms before winning the 1989 presidential elections.

But the former official’s star began to fade in 1999 when it was discovered that in addition to his 10,000-dollar-a-month minister’s salary, he was collecting a retirement check each month worth 8,300 dollars.

Judge Speroni’s investigation involves a shipment of 230 tons of gunpowder to Croatia in August 1993, which occurred in violation of a United Nations arms embargo against all parties involved in the Balkans war.

The case entrusted to judge Urso, meanwhile, includes another arms shipment to Croatia in 1991 in addition to weapons sent to Ecuador in 1995, when that nation was at war with Peru. Because Argentina was among the guarantors of a peace agreement between the two Andean countries, international law prohibited it from providing arms to either side.

The shipment sent to Croatia – consisting of canons, combat rifles, short-range missiles, anti-personnel mines, grenades and munitions – was transported in seven Croatian vessels. The shipping order, however, indicated that the final destination of the material was Panama, a nation that has no armed forces.

In the case of Ecuador, 8,000 rifles and 75 tons of munitions were sent by aircraft to Quito, though the paperwork indicated they were to be sold to Venezuela.

The federal justice authorities are trying to determine if the crime of conspiracy has a role in these cases.

They have already arrested and imprisoned Menem’s former brother-in-law, Emir Yoma, who also served as the former president’s adviser during his first years in power.

Luis Sarlenga, former controller of the state-run Fabricaciones Militares enterprise, is also a defendant for charges related to the arms contraband, though he is currently free on bail.

Yoma was arrested after Sarlenga fingered him as being among the Argentine officials responsible for the illegal weapons deals.

Justice officials are working under the presumption that Menem’s former adviser was the organiser of the illicit partnership, based on reports that he collected a commission of 400,000 dollars for the arms operations.

Urso has gathered information from statements made several people, including Yoma’s former private secretary Lourdes Di Natale, that indicate Yoma as the holder of bank accounts bearing the names of “ghost companies” based across the Rio de la Plata in Montevideo. Sarlenga has said that he deposited money coming from the arms deals in those accounts.

The smuggling case initiated in 1995 had been left pending until April of this year when the Federal Chamber of Appeals ordered judge Urso to speed up and expand the investigation into money obtained from the illegal operations.

González, meanwhile, is also under investigation by Urso, who has taken statements from another former defence minister, Oscar Camilión, from former military official Mohammed Seineldín, and Zulema Yoma, Menem’s former wife.

The federal judge has also called a July 13 meeting in his chambers to include former foreign minister Guido Di Tella, former armed forces chief Martín Balza – who is in the most compromising situation, according to legal sources – and Menem himself.

The Judiciary’s request for Menem’s legal statement provoked strong protests from the legislators of his ‘Justicialista’ (Peronist) Party.

Menem has convened his defence team: Mariano Cavagna Martínez, a former member of the Supreme Court of Justice, Oscar Roger, former prosecutor general during his presidency, and Adolfo Bagnasco.

“I cannot believe that the president (Menem) and other high officials were not aware of what was happening. That would be truly remarkable. What’s more, my son (Carlos) told me that everyone knew about it and that he was investigating the matter,” commented Zulema Yoma.

The parade of former officials through the courts, the arrests and the crossfire of accusations seem to be drawing closer to Menem, who maintains that he feels calm and is focused on his wedding this weekend, according to his family.

The former Argentine president is to marry Cecilia Bolocco of Chile, a former Miss Universe and former television news announcer.

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