Luis Alexander Pichuaga is one of the “founding partners” of Coxtex, one of the companies that provided trout bills to the Polo Obrero to justify million-dollar expenses. According to his DNI, he was born in Canada, in November 1978. However, when the Police raided his house on May 23, he found a person who does not have any foreign traits. “He is 100% Argentine, he has no foreign features or appearance”said a judicial source who was able to see the video of the police procedure.
The raid on Pichuaga, in a PH in the Floresta area, confirmed suspicions about his true participation in the creation of Coxtex and other investigated companies. The “Canadian” He lives in a room on the top floor, with his partner and children, all together in the same room. The Police found mattresses on the floor.
“It is a PH apparently inherited by the family group, their room was much more humble than the front of the place appears. Pichuaga was described by the Police as a very misaligned person,” said a source in the investigation.
Until the raid, Pichuaga worked in the Buenos Aires Government. “He joined in March 2023. At that time he had no criminal record, but he was already discharged,” confirmed a City source.
Pichuaga and Kotex are being investigated in the case being carried out by Judge Sebastián Casanello and prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita. The file began in December of last year with an avalanche of complaints to line 134 about alleged extortion of beneficiaries of social plans to go to the marches, but as the days passed it led to a possible millionaire fraud to the state coffers.
Within the framework of this case, they were detected trout invoices from two companies for a total of $25 million pesos. These invoices, for the sale of goods and even computers, would have been used to justify money expenditures.
One of the targeted firms is a printing company called “Ediciones e Impresiones Rumbos SRL”, with headquarters at 542 Palestine Street, in the Almagro neighborhood. At that place, the Police were received by the son of former legislator Marcelo Ramal, who would live there with his mother and another person. There was no trace of the printing press.
The other firm that provided invoices is Coxtex SA, supposedly dedicated to the sale of household appliances, cell phones and computer accessories. In fact, it is a trout invoice plant. Its founding partners, at least on paper, are Pichuaga and a woman identified as Mariana Soledad Vega (33). For Justice, they are proxies for a sophisticated organization managed by a group of notaries and lawyers.
Vega has the same profile as his “partner”. A few hours after the raid on her house, she appeared alone in the Comodoro Py courts to request the assistance of an official defender but until now she has not testified. “He is a person in a situation of clearer vulnerability than Pichuaga”described a judicial source.
Vega’s financial situation does not match his expenses. According to him he could know Infobae from official sources, between September and October 2023 spent $3,540,000 for alleged consumption in the Apple Store. That information still does not appear in the file.
In addition to Kotex, the mysterious partners created three other companies throughout 2020: Consulting SA, Recinsur SA and Ciriaco Shoes SRL. Behind these firms appears a more sophisticated organization made up of a group of notary offices and legal studies that are dedicated to creating shell companies. Ten days ago, Casanello raided several of those places. “We are still analyzing the seized documentation and the extraction of their devices is pending,” explained an investigator.
The companies created by Vega and the “Canadian” had other purposes. “Recinsur operated a total of $44,850,000 between June 2020 and February 2022, 75% in cash, without justifying the origin of the funds”, explained an official from a control body. That signature is registered in an office located at San Martín 66.
The Coxtex line, as researchers call it, put the magnifying glass on several notaries. One of them is Juan Bautista Derrasaga, which was already raided by Casanello. That La Plata notary accumulates several legal cases. Among other things, he established Clamarán, the company that former Transportation Secretary Ricardo Jaime used to buy a 250 m2 apartment on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, as revealed by the newspaper La Nación.
In addition to Justice, Derrasaga has been investigated by several state agencies. “We verified about 200 companies set up by that notary that are linked to exchange houses. Despite everything, the banks continue to open accounts for him,” lamented an official.
This week the investigations began, although the majority of those cited refused to answer questions. “Of the four from the Polo Obrero, three did not testify or answer questions, and only one woman testified that she acknowledged the attendance at the mobilizations and the payment of a capitation, but said that everything was done voluntarily, without any type of coercion or threatens anyone,” he explained to Infobae a source with access to the case. References from the Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL), another of the organizations investigated, also testified.
Next Tuesday it will be the turn of Jeremías Cantero, Eduardo Belliboni’s right hand man. And on the 25th, the head of the Polo Obrero and Maria Isolda Dottialias “Tango”, the woman who had $54,448 in her house.
Belliboni must answer why he signed dozens of fraudulent invoices to justify alleged expenses of the mass of money his organization received. He has already advanced his defense in several interviews. “The bills are not trout. Neither for the AFIP nor for the State that accepted the invoices and never had any claim.”said.
The owner of the Polo Obrero validated with his signature the receipts delivered by “Ediciones e Impresiones Rumbos SRL”, the printing company investigated.
Until now, Justice analyzed a total of 167 invoices for a total of 25 million. “Between 2020 and 2023, the Polo Obrero civil association and the “El Resplandor” cooperative received $360 million. That total would have yielded only 113 million, as reported so far by the Ministry of Human Capital. And in those returns the 25 million invoices appear. It is a high percentage,” explained a judicial source.
This week, Casanello accepted as plaintiffs the Poder Ciudadano Foundation and the Anti-Corruption Office (OA), although he asked that organization to unify with the Ministry of Human Capital, which already had that role and had provided all the invoices.
