Police raid site of Lionel Messi's wedding two days before ceremony
Police
and tax inspectors have carried out a court-ordered search at a casino
attached to the hotel that is preparing to host the wedding of Lionel
Messi, authorities said, though they denied any connection with the
coming nuptials.
The Wednesday raid at the City Center hotel and
casino complex in Rosario, Argentina, was authorised by federal judge
Marcelo Baylaque amid an investigation of alleged tax evasion by magnate
Cristobal Lopez.
Messi's wedding to longtime partner Antonella
Roccuzzo is set to take place on Friday at the same complex, but
officials said the attached hotel was not part of the raid.
"We
are working exclusively with the casino," said Carlos Vaudagna, the
regional director of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue, told
EFE. "The hotel is not involved and this will not affect Friday's event
in any way.
"It was just a coincidence that we came a few days
prior [to the wedding], we had the judicial request a month ago but were
just granted permission now."
Vaudagna also said he estimated
that authorities would have seized all they needed for the probe by the
end of the day and would not disturb the wedding preparations.
Judge
Juan Galvan Greenway is in charge of the case, which is related to
alleged kickbacks for public works projects and an alleged $1.8m in
money laundering.
"We came to seize video monitoring tape related
to subjects who we believe in 2015 received financial gain or earnings
of more than $6,000 in daily [casino] winnings," Vaudagna said.
He
said that one bettor reportedly won more than 48 times, with more than
$100,000 in winnings. Another casino in Buenos Aires as well as a
racetrack had also been raided last week as part of the probe.
Lopez
was indicted on corruption-related charges last year along with 16
others as part of an ongoing probe into the finances of the
administration under Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the former
president of Argentina from 2007-15.