Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide.
Judge Norberto Oyarbide justified the year in which it took to arrest both Sergio and Pablo Schoklender, putting it down to the case being «complex.» The judge also pointed out that «the huge amount of people involved,» and the «diversity of the offenses» they were accused of also played a large part in the long build up to the arrests.
The judge defended the year-long pause that was taken before arresting the brothers, putting it down to “the complexity of the case, the huge amount of people involved and the diversity of the offenses.”
Oyarbide further detailed that he has “travelled across various provinces in order to put together all of the pieces of the case.”
The former financial manager for the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Foundation, Sergio Schoklender, was arrested yesterday afternoon on charges of embezzlement and criminal conspiracy in the handling of funds intended for the construction of social housing.
The decision was taken and announced by Oyarbide at the end of yesterday’s hearing, which had originally been called to interrogate Schoklender regarding whether he embezzled more than 156 million dollars that the government gave the group to build housing for the poor.
The judge also ordered that Sergio’s younger brother Pablo be arrested, along with accountant Alejandro Gotkin, a former partner in the Schoklenders’ business Meldorek.
Gotkin was arrested during Sergio’s hearing, while Pablo turned himself in yesterday evening.
buenosairesherald.com