What will happen to the judge accused of asking for million-dollar bribes in La Rioja?
Judge Norma Abate de Mazzucchelli, president of the Fourth Chamber of Civil, Commercial and Mine Matters of La Rioja, and vice president of the Association of Women Judges of Argentina, was left in the eye of the storm when she was denounced by a merchant for asking $8 million in order to expedite a succession.
After the case came to light in which Manuela Saavedra denounced Mazzucchelli for demanding a large sum of money from her to release a payment from the inheritance of her uncle, who died four years ago, the lawyer presented her resignation from her position as judge of the Fourth Chamber in Civil, Commercial and Mines of the province; However, the Court rejected that option and the judge will go directly to the trial jury.
The scandal was such that the governor himself, Ricardo Quintela, used his social networks to express himself: “The events that occurred and were publicly reported are unacceptable and absolutely serious. Judge Abate de Mazzuchelli, accused of asking for bribes to resolve different cases, is attacking the trust of the Riojan people in Justice; For this reason, she requested the removal of her position and the investigation of this situation.”
And he concluded: “The people of La Rioja deserve a transparent Justice that is on their side guaranteeing compliance with their rights.”
The provincial Legislature will meet this Friday afternoon in a special session to debate its future, by decision of Vice Governor Teresita Leonor Madera.
The evidence of the scandal
Among the evidence that emerged are the victim’s statements and a video obtained from a hidden camera at the moment the judge asks for the money.
At the beginning of the note, a journalist from TN He approached Mazzucchelli and asked him about the case: “I don’t know about that. “What complaint?” asked the judge.
According to the complainant herself, it all started when the lawyer told her that she knew her uncle: “She told me that since she knew him she was going to make an exception for me and that she was going to help me get him out quickly.”
“At one point she told me that the judge’s salary was very little and that was why she was not interested in the cases,” Saavedra said.
Everything was going on without major problems until one day the judge approached the bookstore where the complainant worked: “She pulled me aside and told me that the next day I could have the issue resolved, but that it had a cost because it was a lot job”. And she continued: “The next day a lady came and said that she works with her and that her papers were already there to start the process.”
After that, the merchant stressed: “I returned to her office and things changed there. She explained to me that she was going to regulate fees of 8 million pesos, but that in reality they were going to be for her. “
It was at that moment, while Saavedra was recording everything with a hidden camera, that Mazzucchelli bribed her: “There I told her ‘he’s going to charge me eight million, I can’t pay that.’ Then she crossed out the number she wrote in a notebook and below He wrote a five. I told him it was impossible because I was full of debt.
“If you don’t want to do it or can’t, don’t do it. This is not out of obligation, it’s out of recognition. Who did everything to you? Who managed everything for you? It wasn’t the lawyers here,” the accused told her.
And he concluded: “It’s simple Manuela, here no one is going to put a gun to your chest. So how much can you pay me?”
Faced with this scenario, Saavedra denounced the judge for the alleged crime of concussion, which is why the NGO Citizen Power enabled the number 51147200 to obtain new complaints.
