Mario Pontaquarto
PEOPLE PROFILE is published every Tuesday and describes the professional background of key people emerging in the political and economic scenario.
Who is Mario Pontaquarto?
He is the former secretary of the Argentine senate and the first supergrass
on the corruption that has bedevilled the senate and Argentine politics. He
was close to the Radical party for years and also enjoyed good relations with
the Peronists. These two parties have governed the country for the past 20 years.
Why watch him?
Pontaquarto was responsible for withdrawing money from the funds reserved for
the intelligence services' budget in April 2000. More than US$5m of this money
was used to pay bribes to both Radical and Peronist senators for voting for
President Fernando de la Rúa's labour reform. At the time the measure
was considered vital for the country. Now, Pontaquarto has confessed to an investigating
magistrate. His evidence is that President Fernando de la Rúa was directly
involved, as were nine former senators, both Peronists and Radicals. The scandal
over the bribing of senators came to break the de la Rúa government,
provoking the resignation first of the Frepaso leader, Carlos `Chacho' Alvarez,
and then de la Rúa's jefe de gobierno, Rodolfo Terragno. These two men
had been the leading architects of the alliance between the Radicals and Frepaso.
The weakened government limped on to the crisis and disaster of 2001.
Education:
He is a lawyer by training.
Public life:
Pontaquarto only came to public notice 10 days ago when he made his allegation
about de la Rúa's payment of US$5m in bribes. He had previously worked
on the administrative side for the senate since 1993. Arguably he was the most
influential non-politician in the senate. He ran the permanent secretariat and
was responsible for setting the chamber's agenda.
Timeline:
2000: Secretario Parlamentario del Senado: head of the administration
of the senate.
2000: Took part in the arrangements which set up the payments-for-votes
scandal. In this some senators from both main parties were paid by the government
for voting in favour of a labour reform bill.
2000: When the investigation into the scandal started, Pontaquarto denied
that any bribes were paid.
2000: The scandal took wings when Carlos Alvarez, then president of the
senate, resigned, severely weakening the de la Rúa government.
2003: Unexpectedly, Pontaquarto is sacked by the senate for misusing
public funds.
2003: Pontaquarto, upset because neither Radical nor Peronist senators
sprang to his defence, admitted that he was the intermediary between the president
and senators from both parties in the paying of US$5m in bribes for the labour
reform vote.
2003: The justice ministry reopens the case and forbids former president
de La Rúa and the nine senators accused by Pontaquarto from leaving the
country.
Strong points:
He is the first supergrass to provide information on the mafia-like way the
Argentine political system worked. The system involved political parties illegally
siphoning off public money and politicians taking huge bribes. Everyone believes
his allegations, which chime with what federal investigators have discovered
over the past couple of years. Pontaquarto has the implicit support of the government
of President Nestor Kirchner. It is providing personal protection for him and
has moved his family out of the country. The government is also keen to bring
charges that will lead to senators, and possibly a former president, ending
up behind bars.
Weak points:
Pontaquarto has only recently seen the light. He had spent two years dismissing
any involvement in the paying of bribes for the labour reform vote. There are
inconsistencies in what he has said to investigators. He is vulnerable to accusations
that he is a tainted witness because he too took bribes.
Prospects:
Pontaquarto's statements could lead to a complete clean-up of Argentine politics.
He could bring down a host of former ministers and officials. The most vulnerable
are, clearly, former president de La Rúa, and the former head of the
secret service, Fernando de Santibáñez. Others in the frame are
prominent senators, especially those involved in the senate between 1993 and
2001. Pontaquarto could end up purging the whole Argentine political elite.