RAMPANT CORRUPTION OF FORMER GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO BE FURTHER EXPOSED IN ARGENTINA

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

If someone had created a story, about a corrupt former minister who was caught by the authorities, while hiding in a convent, with $9m in cash and luxury watches in duffel bags, all the while assisted by nuns, I would have said it was too far fetched to be credible, yet the exact thing occurred in Argentina recently. The extent of corruption, among senior government officials of the former Kirchner government, seems to know no bounds.

I mention this, because there is a valuable tradecraft lesson to be learned here. Argentinian contractors would grossly over-bill for public works contracts, having been approved by Kirchner cronies. A portion of the excess was returned to the president's family, in an ingenious scheme. The contractors would book, and pay for, rentals and stays at hotel and real estate properties owned by the Kirchners, yet never actually occupying the rooms. Through this method,  part of the laundered cash  was kicked back to the president, who is presently under investigation for this technique.