“El Salvaje”, in trouble: Justice reinvestigates Pablo Moyano as head of the Independiente bar

Using the same arguments to reach different conclusions requires an important intellectual exercise. But in most cases the trick is exposed. This is basically what Chamber Two of the Chamber of Appeals of Justice of Lomas de Zamora discovered with regard to the responsibility of Pablo Moyano as the alleged head of an illicit association embodied in the bar of Independiente. With a very harsh ruling on the resolutions adopted by the judge of first instance, Brenda Madrid, Judges Pablo Litte and Alejandro Rojas reversed the dismissal of the chief of Truckers and left him on the verge of the oral trial because they order the judge to proceed again and unless she immolates herself based on the arguments contradictory that the House blames on him, he will have no choice but to proceed with Moyano in the same way he did with other managers and bars. That is, putting him on the bench of the defendants.

To understand Moyano's situation, we must refer to the genesis of the case. At the end of 2017, a judicial investigation carried out by the attorney general of Lomas de Zamora, Sebastián Scalera, determined that the barra brava of Independiente led by Pablo Bebote Alvarez formed an illicit association that engaged in multiple crimes in the sports field and that also defrauded the club in complicity with senior members of the board of directors. In the midst of the process, many bars, including Bebote and his second, Damián Langaronne, decided to declare as repentant and tell everything that they said had happened in those years. Thus they mentioned that they collected money from the Moyanos to turn to the previous president, Javier Cantero, that the organization of the tickets and the buses for the bar came from Truckers and that they talked everything with Héctor Maldonado, general secretary of the club and treasurer of the guild and also with Pablo Moyano through a bar that was custodian of the latter, named Roberto Petrov, alias the Pole. And among other things they provided text messages to prove that relationship. In those messages, the triumvir of the CGT was called by the nickname “El Salvaje”.

With this material Scalera asked for raids and statements. It was discovered that items belonging to the bar were kept in the garage of Truckers, as Bebote Alvarez had stated, and that on the fourth floor of the Franco Argentina building located in Plaza de Mayo, where the Integradores company operates, which carried out the entire Independiente computer system, once every fortnight. Langaronne would pick up the tickets from the bar, which he obviously took them free of charge. Moreover, the managers of this company declared under oath that this was true and to justify the irregular delivery of cards and tickets to the bar they admitted that they only obeyed the club's orders. The disappointment seemed imposing: in his fact-finding statement Maldonado had accepted that in the 2017 Copa Sudamericana final won by Rojo de Avellaneda, more than 12,000 people had entered the stadium without having their ticket sales registered with the club. And he justified it with “when there are important parties, people jump the turnstiles.” 12,000 people jumping pinwheels? For Prosecutor Scalera it was all about the resale that the bar made with the consent of the leadership.

With such a panorama, the Justice swiftly advanced against the bars, first putting them in jail and then raising Bebote Alvarez and all its nearest leadership to trial. The first judge in charge of the case was Silvio Carzoglio, who ended up being separated and with a jury of prosecution when he determined that Pablo Moyano was alien to everything that had arisen. Judge Brenda Madrid took charge of the case there, who not only determined responsibilities in the bars but also in the club's leaders, sending to trial in 2019, among others, Héctor Maldonado, Moyano's right-hand man. With what tests did he do it? With what they had provided the bars plus the rest of the testimonial statements and the evidence collected in the raids. But when it came to defining Pablo Moyano's situation, he dismissed it on the grounds that everything had been done behind his back. Yes, that the then treasurer of Truckers and general secretary of the club had set up the operation with Bebote Alvarez without “El Salvaje” as the bars called him aware of this.

Faced with this ruling, Prosecutor Scalera appealed to the House and his appeal fell to Chamber Two, which after almost 15 months of having him asleep, this afternoon issued its decision revoking the dismissal of Pablo Moyano with harsh criticism of the judge. He tells him that if he believed the testimonies of the others involved and the witnesses to send several leaders to trial, he cannot but do the same with Moyano because the testimonies point to him. Past in clean: either believe everything, or do not believe in anything. And for the House there seem to be strong elements to believe in everything. Now the judge will have to review what she did and issue a new pronouncement that, given the whole situation, gives the impression that it will not be very favorable for Pablo Moyano.