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The maletinazo, valijagate, or "suitcase scandal" was a 2007 scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina, souring friendship between the countries. The scandal began when Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, 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 can only take US$500 or €400 cash out of the country in a single trip and there is 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 ever 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). ==Chronicle== 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 claiming to be part of Chávez's entourage, arrived in Argentina on a private flight from Royal Class hired 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 included Ruth Behrens, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) representative in Uruguay; Nelly Cardozo, legal assessor of that company; Wilfredo Ávila, a protocol official; and Daniel Uzcategui Specht, son of PDVSA's vice-president Diego Uzcategui and Maria Isabel Specht, Technology and Engineering Manager of Citgo Petroleum Corporation in Houston, Texas. Others on that flight were the president of Enarsa, Exequiel Espinosa, Claudio Uberti (OCCOVI) and Victoria Bereziuk, his 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 was in the signing ceremony between the presidents of Argentina and Venezuela that took place in the presidential palace, also known as the ''Casa Rosada''.〔("Antonini Estuvo en la Casa de Gobierno" ) ''La Nación'', 12 January 2008〕 On 8 August, the Argentine senate demanded a report on the incident. An Argentine judge later ordered the arrest of Antonini Wilson and he is facing charges for money laundering and contraband.〔Ortiz, Fiona. ("Suitcase of cash sparks new scandal in Argentina". ) Reuters, 9 August 2007. Retrieved on 22 August 2007.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maletinazo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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