Joseph Alperovich sat down yesterday from 10:15 a.m. testify at trial which is followed by sexual abuse from his niece and former personal assistant. To a full room, she stated countless times that “this case is armed” and categorically denied all the facts that weigh against her. In this context, it was expected that, after extensive interrogation by his lawyer, who lasted more than six hours, would not answer questions from the prosecutor. However, he decided to submit to her questionnaire. There he stated: “I did not feel sexual attraction towards her. My head was on something else. I wasn’t interested, apart from that I have been married for 45 years… I never had sexual relations with her”.
The first question the prosecutor asked Sandro Abraldes aimed to list the public positions that the accused held throughout his career. There he described his “main political achievements” linked to the three institutional periods he served as governor between 2003 and 2015. “I have been a governor who made 75 thousand housing solutions, 30 thousand homes, schools. I invested a lot in drinking water. (…) I promoted incentives to create jobs: I brought – to the province – the call centers, the blueberry. I have worked a lot for humble people”.
And he added: “I am a good manager, but the province received it so badly, so badly, that if I had not received the help of the president Nestor KirchnerI would not have achieved what I achieved in Tucumán, that is why after twelve years I still had a good image”.
He then explained how FL had joined his campaign team in late 2017 to contest the 2019 government election. He said that back then he needed someone “who I managed the agenda“because I was very”disorganized” and, furthermore, “he had many activities in Tucumán and Buenos Aires” such as national senator. She clarified that the complainant “went to work at the small table” to articulate “the work in the territory”.
“When she came in – in December of that year – she simply managed the day to day life. She grew up fast, because she started to show that She was a girl who had character, managed the agenda and began to grow. After four or five months I asked her if she wanted to take charge – as a private assistant. She showed that she delivered well, that she had commitment, It was seen that she was a girl who really wanted to grow.“, held.
Minutes later, the prosecutor’s office consulted him about a trip he took with the young woman to Buenos Aires, a few days after joining the work team. And, according to the complaint, two of the acts of abuse They would have occurred in one of Alperovich’s two apartments located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Puerto Madero.
“F.L. He asked me to accompany him to the City of Buenos Aires because he wanted to see the Congress. how she was my Secretaryhe told me that he would like to visit the Senate. We knew that we were going to the apartments that I have in Buenos Aires. But I never tell anyone where to sleep. I entered my bedroom. “She stayed in the third bedroom… Each one chose where they wanted to sleep,” said Alperovich.
Strictly speaking, the former senator is being tried for three alleged acts sexual abuse -two of them attempted- and six incidents of sexual violence aggravated by carnal access. For the accusers, the politician would have committed all of the crimes between December 14, 2017 and March 26, 2018 in the cities of San Miguel de Tucumán and Yerba Buena, and in one of the Alperovich departments of Puerto Madero.
Furthermore, according to the proceedings, the complainant collaborated as right hand of the accused, first cousin of his father, between the end of 2017 and 2019, while he served as national senator after being elected to that position in 2015. On May 24, 2019, in the middle of the electoral campaign, The young woman, then 29 years old, decided to present her resignation. In November of that year published a letter accusing her of sexual abuse second uncle, who requested leave without pay in the Upper House. There, two investigations were opened – one in Tucumán and another in Buenos Aires – which would later end up being unified by order of the Supreme Court of Justice.
An hour after the statement, the accusation was blunt: “Mr. Alperovich, did you feel sexual attraction towards FL?”, he inquired. “No, Mr. Prosecutor. I didn’t feel sexual attraction towards her.. My head was on something else. I wasn’t interested. Besides, I am a man married for 45 years,” said the accused, and then stated: “Never sexual contact with her; I didn’t have sexual relations”.
At the end he explained how he found out about FL’s resignation from its political space two weeks before the elections where Alperovich would lose against the then governor. Juan Manzur. “He told me: ‘José, I don’t want to continue working anymore, I’m tired‘. I asked him to stay and help me for 15 more days. But I had to continue, we were campaigning, everyone was involved in it like crazy, with our minds set on the elections.”
And he stated: “I felt angry because he left me. I asked him to stay and he said no. I was not surprised by her decision, because She believed she deserved recognition.”.
When the prosecution finished its questionnaire, the judge Juan Ramos Padilla He asked Alperovich “if he was in a position to continue” with interventions in the complaint, represented by Pablo Rovatti, Carolina Cymerman and Esteban Galli. There his lawyer intervened, Augusto Garridoto suggest that he not continue with his presentation, since he had read in a note from a provincial media that the plaintiffs intended to ask for a prison sentence against him, so there was no interest in continuing to answer.
The accused decided not to answer any more questions at 5:30 p.m. Then the head of the Federal Oral Court 29 closed the hearing until next Monday, June 10, when the closing arguments of the accusers will begin.
