Civil and Commercial Court magistrate Horacio Alfonso has placed an injunction measure to suspend Grupo Clarín’s reorganisation, ordered by the AFSCA media watchdog as part of the new Media Law.
Alfonso’s ruling determined that in taking the decision to force the business to restructure its multimedia holdings in line with legislation, the watchdog’s board of directors failed to debate in an appropriate manner the measure before acting.
AFSCA head Martín Sabbatella confirmed the court’s decision this afternoon and expressed his anger at the magistrate’s decision.
“There is no doubt that an important part of the justice system has been colonized by concentrated economical powers, and it is scared of ending their privileges,” he said.
According to Sabbatella, his entity took “the correct steps for Clarín’s reorganisation.”
On October 8th the AFSCA rejected Clarín’s own plan, arguing the existence of “corporate links” between the different societies which compound the multimedia group.
“The courts need to worry about demanding the fulfilment of laws, instead of giving corporations the tools to avoid them,” Sabbatella complained.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald