At the request of the Investigative Court No. 1, of the Southern Judicial District of Tierra del Fuego, in charge of Dr. Sergio Alberto Pepe ; officers of Squadron 44 of the National Gendarmerie raided this afternoon the Office of the General, Legal and Technical Secretariat of the government of Tierra del Fuego, in charge of lawyer José Capdevila . The magistrate is investigating the alleged crime of “ falsifying a public instrument”.
Image published this afternoon by the Ushuaia website, TDF News
During the procedure, the Federal Force seized technological elements and presumably documentation, with which they will seek to determine the exact date of printing of Provincial Decree No. 1656/24, by which Governor Gustavo Melella called for elections for Constituent Convention members.
Specifically, to see if Decree 1656/24 published on July 30, was actually printed on July 25, and not after July 29. The latter date was the date on which the 210 days provided for in article 4 of Law No. 1529/23 - promulgated on December 29, 2023 - were met; by which an instance was opened for the call for general elections throughout the Province, with the purpose of reforming 70 articles of the Constitution of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, at the proposal of Melella himself, as a legal shortcut to access a third term of government.
The raid and seizure carried out at the request of Judge Sergio Pepe , is related to the suspension of the electoral process ordered by the Superior Court of Justice of Tierra del Fuego and by unanimous decision of its five members last Tuesday 6th; after giving rise to a declaratory action of certainty and unconstitutionality against the constitutional reform ; presented by the legislator of Somos Fueguinos (SF) Jorge Lechman . And that also included; a precautionary measure of not innovating to stop the implementation of the reform until its constitutionality is resolved .
Since the mid-1990s, when José Arturo Estabillo was in power, the National Gendarmerie had not carried out a raid at the headquarters of the Executive Branch of Tierra del Fuego. On that occasion, the Fuegian Justice went in search of evidence for the accusation of misappropriation of public funds as a result of the creation of Hidrocarburos Fueguinos SA HI.FU.SA. Whose directors, after signing a contract with the firm Triad Engineering Limited for 16 million dollars for the installation of a refinery, the company never produced a single liter of hydrocarbon.
“This judicial intervention, unprecedented in the recent history of the province, could have far-reaching consequences for the political future of the Melella government. The results of this investigation could not only invalidate the decree in question, but also open a debate on transparency and legality in the management of public affairs,” posed the question of the Tierra del Fuego information website SelknamSur , which gave the scoop on the Gendarmerie raid.
Versions coming from Melella's own entourage had stated at the same time that the raid and seizure were being carried out; that the government was going to issue a "forceful statement" against the judicial measure. However, until 6 pm today; no communication had been officially issued from the institutional channels, nor through the networks of the Provincial State.
