Argentina prosecutor seeks approval to investigate president

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – An Argentine prosecutor is seeking judicial permission to investigate President Mauricio Macri and two other high level officials over last year’s settlement of a debt owed to the government by a company owned by the president’s father.

Federal prosecutor Juan Pedro Zoni says the settlement did not protect the public interest adequately and the officials should be investigated. A federal judge must now decide whether an investigation is warranted for Macri, Communication Minister Oscar Aguad and the ministry’s director of legal affairs, Juan Manuel Mocoroa.

The case involves Correo Argentino, the country’s post office that was owned by the president’s father in the 1990s until it went bankrupt in 2001. The government agreed last year to settle the debt of almost 300 million pesos by having the company pay back twice that amount but in installments spread out until 2033.

Last week, the general prosecutor of the Appellate Court, Gabriela Boquin, ruled the deal was prejudicial to the state.