The Maletinazo, Valijagate, or suitcase scandal was a 2007 scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina, souring friendship between the countries.
The scandal began when , a Venezuelan-US entrepreneur, arrived in Argentina on a private flight, hired by Argentine and Venezuelan state officials, carrying US$800,000 in cash which he failed to declare.
Venezuela had enacted strict foreign currency controls in 2003. CADIVI, the commission established by the Venezuelan government to regulate currency, prohibits taking more than US$10,000 in cash out of the country without declaring the money. Individual Venezuelans could only take US$500 or €400 cash out of the country in a single trip and there was a yearly quota of US$2,500 on credit card expenditures; a special government permit is needed to take additional US dollars out of the country.
The scandal escalated with suggestions that: Wilson was part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's personal entourage; the money was meant to help finance, and thus influence, the Argentine presidential candidate Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; the money was meant to bribe Argentine officials in energy deals for Venezuelan natural gas; or, the suitcase was intended for money-laundering. No allegations were proven and the case was closed in 2015 due to the statute of limitations.
The scandal gained further notoriety when María del Luján Telpuk, the Argentine airport police officer who discovered the unreported currency, posed naked a few months later in the Argentine and Venezuelan versions of Playboy magazine.
The word Maletinazo comes from maletín (the Spanish word for suitcase or briefcase) and the suffix -azo which implies intensity or magnitude. The scandal is also known as Valijagate, Maletagate and Maletíngate (following the -gate construction and the Spanish word maleta or valija for suitcase or briefcase).
Background
President Hugo Chávez was planning to visit Argentina in August 2007 to refinance billions of United States dollars in Argentine debt through bond purchases and announce a natural gas deal.
On 4 August 2007, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan-US entrepreneur of Chávez's entourage, arrived in Argentina on a private plane chartered from Royal Class by Argentine and Venezuelan state officials, carrying US$790,550 in cash. He did not declare the money upon arrival and the police seized the money. Other Venezuelan passengers on the plane included Ruth Behrens, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) representative in Uruguay; Nelly Cardozo, legal assessor of that company; Wilfredo Ávila, a protocol official; Daniel Uzcategui Specht, son of PDVSA vice-president Diego Uzcateguil, and Maria Isabel Specht, Technology and Engineering Manager of Citgo Petroleum Corporation in Houston, Texas. Others on that flight were Exequiel Espinosa, president of Enarsa, Claudio Uberti of OCCOVI (Argentina's Highway Commission), and Victoria Bereziuk, Uberti's secretary. Although officials originally called it a simple infraction and released Antonini Wilson, both Argentine and Venezuelan officials called for an investigation.
Chávez arrived in Argentina on 6 August 2007, as part of a tour to sign oil deals with several South American countries. Antonini Wilson attended the signing ceremony between the presidents of Argentina and Venezuela that took place in the presidential palace, also known as the Casa Rosada. On 8 August 2007, the Argentine senate demanded a report on the incident. An Argentine judge later ordered the arrest of Antonini Wilson and he faced charges for money laundering and contraband.
As investigations began, Antonini Wilson fled to the United States and arrived in Miami.
Investigation
Initially, Argentine judge Marta Novatti took the case but she quickly resigned from the investigation. The Argentine government fired one of the state officials who was on the plane, the head of Road Deal Controls, Claudio Uberti. Argentine Minister of Planning, Julio de Vido (who would be later indicted and jailed for corruption), declared that Uberti was the "political responsible for that flight"; Uberti was fired. The Argentine minister of interior, Fernández, declared the Senate's attempts to ask for a report on an individual, even if it is a crime case. He said the demand was politically motivated (referring to upcoming elections in Argentina).
Venezuela's PDVSA announced an internal investigation to determine why four of their officials were traveling with Antonini Wilson.