In April 2015, the federal prosecutor of Rio Grande, Marcelo Rapoport; The coordinating attorney general of the District of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, Adrián García Lois , and the attorney general in charge of the Office of the Attorney General for Economic Crime and Money Laundering (Procelac), Carlos Gonella , presented a brief to the Federal Court of Río Grand and requesting an investigation of the alleged commission of "illicit activities of exploration, search and eventual extraction of hydrocarbons in the vicinity of the Malvinas Islands", on the transnational companies Falkand Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL), Edison International SPA, Noble Energy Inc. and its subsidiary Noble Energy Malvina Limited , Premier Oil plc and Rockhopper Exploration plc ; given that none of them had "any authorization, concession or permit granted by the competent Argentine authority."
The initiative that was taken and promoted by prosecutors as a criminal action; It had been born due to the complaint presented to Procelac by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Héctor Timerman , and the former Minister of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services, Julio De Vido; after it became known that these oil companies had acquired licenses for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in waters adjacent to the archipelago, based on a bidding process opened by the British colony that usurped the Malvinas Islands from Argentina, starting in 2010.
Prosecutors Gonella, Rapoport and García Lois, filing the complaint on April 24, 2015.
Gonella, García Lois and Rapoport, requested the then Judge Lilian Herráez de Andino , to investigate the possible violation of article 7 of law 26659 , of exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons of the Argentine Continental Shelf - which provides for up to fifteen years in prison. and double the time of the sentence to carry out the trade; and the confiscation of related assets from those who engage in the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons without authorization in that area.
They said that this illegal activity "produces a significant impact on the natural resources that belong to the inalienable and imprescriptible heritage of the National State"; Therefore, they required to verify "the commission of actions through which, using hazardous waste, they are contaminated in a way that is dangerous to health, the soil, water, the atmosphere, or the environment in general." Proposing to investigate "whether Illegal exploration and exploitation activities could mean smuggling through the import or export of goods in violation of the customs laws of our country, by subtracting from the customs comptroller, the entry of goods necessary to carry out those activities and the eventual exit of the proceeds of the same".
In addition to the six named (Falkand Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL), Edison International SPA, Noble Energy Inc. and its subsidiary Noble Energy Malvina Limited , Premier Oil plc and Rockhopper Exploration plc), they also requested that a group of British companies be investigated. and Americans who so directly or indirectly, "they would have made and/or would be making contributions of various kinds to the criminal maneuver", such as Pretoleum Geo-Services (PGS), which through the vessels it owns “PGS M/V Ramford Sterling”, “PGS Ramform Titan” and “Falcon Explorer” , would have carried out tasks of surveying and analyzing strategic data for the evaluation of the sustainability of the deposits.Desire Petroleum plc, which would have provided useful seismic data and whose capital would have been acquired in 2013 by FOGL ; Neptune EHF , owner of the oceanographic vessel “MV Poseidon” , which would have been used by FOGL to carry out geochemical and environmental baseline studies; and Ocean Rig , owner of the semi-submersible platform “Eirik Raude ”, with which they would have been carrying out drilling tasks in the underwater bed, prosecutors reported.
In June of that same year, the judge opened CAUSE 5183/15 and ordered embargoes for more than 156 million dollars (strictly, U$D 156,432,000) on the property and assets of the British and American companies denounced by the illegal exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons on the Argentine continental shelf of the Malvinas Islands.
It also ordered the immediate cessation of exploration and exploitation in Argentine territory, given the possibility that serious and irreparable environmental damage had occurred as a result of these illicit oil activities.
The absence of the “SOLANAS” law
CAUSE N° 5183/15 , takes as evidentiary legislation regarding the damages and violations committed by British oil companies against the Argentine State, laws N° 22,415 and N° 24,051 . The first: the CUSTOMS CODE and the second on WASTE DANGEROUS , and not Law No. 26,659 or “Pino Solanas Law” that sanctions those companies that carry out oil exploration in areas of the Argentine continental shelf without permission from the national government, and especially affecting Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands. Law that It also prohibits oil companies or subsidiaries that operate in the Malvinas from working in Argentina.
And it is that Dr.Herráez seems to have been inclined to move quickly with two laws with extensive international jurisprudence in similarity, such as those existing in customs and environmental matters, and not with Law 26,659 ; whose application finds no analogy in other countries. Which shows that the ruling is not aimed at directly resolving the problem in oil matters, as a central aspect of the presence of English companies and other nationalities in Argentine jurisdictional waters.
The abandonment of “macrism” and “albertism”
8 years and three months after CAUSE No. 5183/15 was opened, the two governments that succeeded Cristina Fernández de Kirchner not only were not interested in knowing how it evolved, but they also did not provide documentation and/or new information that would allow maintaining the validity of the criminal action in line with the societal and business changes that occurred in the international order, around the oil process launched by Great Britain through its colony last decade.
In September 2016 and with the signing of the Foradori-Duncan Pact , former president Mauricio Macri had set his position when he agreed to “remove” in favor of the United Kingdom; “all the obstacles that limit the economic growth and sustainable development of the Malvinas Islands, including trade, fishing, navigation and hydrocarbons .” Consequently, THE CAUSE was never within their political interest.
As is evident, Alberto Fernández continued the disinterest of Macrismo, and in the 3 years and 10 months of his government he did not make any substantive contribution to the judicial action against the oil companies.
Judge Mariel Borruto (who in May 2019 replaced Lilian Herráez de Andino) , only received a visit from the Foreign Ministry's Malvinas Director, Sandra Pitta, in 2022; who expressed the impossibility of obtaining a response to the appeals issued by the Court to British companies and reported on the successful diplomatic support obtained in the G-77 + China (today made up of 134 countries) and in other international organizations, with which The result was the insistence of the G-77 that Argentina take legal action against the oil companies that illegally acquired licenses to operate in the Malvinas. A matter with which the Foreign Ministry only dares to carry out journalistic campaigns.
The decision of the Frente de Todos not to give it interest had been made clear in February 2020. In the first visit made to Ushuaia by Daniel Filmus in his role as Secretary of the Malvinas of the Foreign Ministry (who returned to the position in 2019 after having premiered it during the presidency of Cristina Fernández and that she was exercising at the time the Prosecutors presented the complaint) ; and in a meeting with the members of the Malvinas Question Observatory Advisory Council of Tierra del Fuego , Filmus responded to the question if they were going to reactivate LA CAUSA ; that the effect of the complaint had fulfilled its purpose in 2015: “to bring down the price of the companies' shares” on the US and London stock exchanges, and discourage investors. And from then on it was Justice itself that had to act.
Daniel Filmus, on February 28, 2020, meeting with the Malvinas Observatory of Tierra del Fuego.
There were also no signs of interest from the management of the governor of Tierra del Fuego Gustavo Melella.
Melella , who in 2016 as mayor; He had received the members of the Río Grande ex-combatants center and agreed on the need for Governor Rosana Bertone to become a COMPLAINTANT of THE CAUSE in the face of the inaction of the Macri administration, nor has he made any reference to the complaint. No one from his cabinet passed through the court to find out about the progress of the judicial process.
The only ones interested; the ex-combatants of Malvinas
In 2015, a few months after LA CAUSA began and the orders to seize the companies were issued; The former Malvinas combatant soldiers, Horacio Chávez and Daniel Guzmán , met with Judge Lilian Herráez . In addition to offering them all the collaboration they could need, they learned about the lack of structure of the Court and the need to have a greater number of officials to serve the Malvinas Question .
At the end of 2017, after the retirement of Lilian Herráez , when Mariel Borruto was still secretary of the Court; and authorized by the substitute judge Federico Calvete , the current judge received the former combatants Daniel Guzmán and Roma Alancay (then president of the Río Grande Veterans Center) , and the journalist and union representative of the UOM Río Grande, Pablo Ibáñez .
At the meeting, note was taken of the 16 letters issued by Lilian Herráez addressed to national organizations; among them CUSTOMS, PREFECTURE, CHANCERY OFFICE and the NATIONAL REGISTRY OF OIL COMPANIES; of the 5 diplomatic letters and also about the requests that the former judge had required to know the local ties of the companies involved.
At the same time, it was learned that the Foreign Ministry had challenged the diplomatic exhortations of Judge Herráez , under the pretext that due to the lack of expressions such as “our Malvinas” , as a possessive determining pronoun that would ratify by the Argentine justice system, the belonging of the sovereignty claimed over the area in dispute. Given that, according to Foreign Ministry officials, a lack of interest or lukewarmness on the part of Argentina in the sovereign claim could be inferred.
Thus, two years after being released, the petitions returned to the Federal Court of Río Grande; where expressions such as; where it said “Malvinas” or “Islas Malvinas”, it was modified by “our Malvinas” ; or “our Malvinas Islands” . For this reason, an important part of LA CAUSA technically returned to a clean slate.
For the third time , this time last Friday, September 22, the former Malvinas combatants Sergio Marroco and Daniel Guzmán met with the secretary of the Federal Court of Río Grande, Juan Vicente.
In this last meeting, the combatants were able to learn that in 2019 the court requested the intervention of the Argentine Naval Prefecture and the National Commission for Space Activities, CONAE ; so that through the Argentine satellite system it could verify the existence or not of spills that could generate stains and observable pollution on the surface of the sea, around the Malvina Islands archipelago.
After two long years of observation, in 2022 the Prefecture and CONAE informed the court that they had not found or detected environmental damage caused by oil activity. A matter that could not be otherwise, since the illegal oil process in Malvinas so far (October 2023), has only been exploration and not exploitation as could happen in 2024 in the Sea Lion/León Marino field , through the companies Rockhopper Exploration and Navitas Petroleum .
They were also able to learn that the director of the Malvinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sandra Pitta; transmitted to the court, having difficulties in diplomatic matters to notify and seize companies based in Great Britain because they do not recognize the Argentine sovereignty of the Malvinas. This means that some or all of the letters, if they were sent, would have had no results.
Still, despite low expectations; In the court there are hopes of being able to reach companies that are located in Europe with the letters of appeal, as in the case of a Dutch company (from the Netherlands) that, in another case initiated by the National Energy Secretariat ; The oil company withdrew from the operation in the Malvinas, recognizing the Argentine claim for its sovereignty.
The existing changes in the international map, as a result of Great Britain's departure from the European Economic Community , following Brexit , are an auspicious event for the court, which is why the collaboration of the Foreign Ministry is expected to guide the magistrate, and in this way the measures requested in 2015, although late and perhaps partially, can be fulfilled.
In the search for corporate links, it was learned that the Federal Court of Río Grande requested the collaboration of the Ministry of Energy ; entity that, through information published on the web; had unofficial data on the companies involved in oil operations in the Malvinas.Based on this, information was requested from the Securities Commission to verify the existence or not of corporate relations in Argentina with these companies, a matter that has not yielded positive results so far.
The Fuegian government has sufficient elements to be a plaintiff
During the dialogue held with Secretary Juan Vicente , he was asked if the current provincial government had requested information from LA CAUSA or if it had become its complainant. In both cases, the response was negative.
Although for the judicial official, the Fuegian government would have sufficient elements to become a plaintiff. He understands that the natural resources owned by the provincial State are at stake. That the oil that is being extracted or will be extracted from Malvinas is Fuegian, and that it is This Province should also receive the corresponding royalties.
The latest movements of THE CAUSE
The latest movements that LA CAUSA has are always generated by the court itself; occurred this year with the renewal of requests to the Argentine Naval Prefecture to verify the existence or not of environmental contamination in the northern area of Malvinas, due to possible oil spills. And last May, a new requirement to the Chancellery to find out if they were able to present the petitions, and if so which ones. Request that until the end of September they had not received responses, so the Judge was going to reiterate her request.
In any case, in LA CAUSA everything revolves around the companies reported in 2015.
In the 8 years and five months of prosecution and existence, neither prosecutors García Lois and Rapoport , nor PROCELAC , nor the presidential administrations of Mauricio Macri and Alberto Fernández provided data on the hydrocarbon companies that withdrew from the Malvinas, nor the that replaced them, nor those that were added by purchasing the share packages of the existing ones.These latter data were provided by the ex-combatants, specifically; on the incorporation of Navitas Petroleum as majority partner of Rockhopper Exploration .
