Professional rustic in a cave “Croatia” | A company linked to La Rural’s vice president is in the crosshairs of justice

The raids on the Nimbus group, the cave of “Croatian” Ivo Rojnica, who was investigated for possible crimes related to dealing in black dollars, escape and evasion, appear to be an inexhaustible Pandora’s box. As this newspaper pointed out, the place was more than just a den of illegal dollars. The latest judicial investigation data that he reviewed Page I12 It is an investigation into an operation involving the livestock company Pereda Agro SA, owned by the family of Marcos Pereda Born, vice president of the Rural Association (SRA), and current president of the Council of Commerce and Production (Cicyp).

The person in question is one of the agricultural CEOs closest to Mauricio Macri, the person who lobbied so that once he took over the leadership of Cicyp, the former president would be the main guest in talks with politicians.

The information published below explains what was found in the documents obtained during the raids on the Croata Cave. According to these papers, Pereda Agro SA, a company that exports sunflowers and corn and also produces livestock, carried out its “cable” operations through the Nimbus Group. Colloquially, “cable” charts the transfers of black dollars between countries.

What is the process being investigated? Pereda Agro underbilled its exports, which it sent to destinations such as Mexico, Algeria and Turkey, with the aim of using those difference dollars to get them out of the country. They did this through a fictitious “marketing” contract and through a Croatian trout company, which was supposed to be set up in Hong Kong.

Maneuver details

The company created to withdraw dollars is called, according to judicial sources, M-EASY MANAGEMENT LTD, and the documents show that it has two contracts with Pereda Agro. Through these two contracts, they received commissions on every export abroad.

Pereda Agro transferred the funds to that company directly to that same company’s account at the HSBC Hong Kong branch, located at Queen’s Road Central. The documents analyzed by Justice also contain account numbers and transfers for the aforementioned operations.

But the move, in principle, would not end there: Subsequently, Gurlai Consulting Group Ltd., another Croatian company also established in Hong Kong, invoiced M-EASY MANAGEMENT LTD for a series of consulting and logistical services.

The last step of the route was to return the black dollars that left the country in actual currency to Pereda Agro SA, via the Rojnica cave. Likewise, in other documents obtained by Justice from the raids, the name of another Pereda company appears, and the reference is to Pereda Hermanos SA.

An important additional piece of information is that all financial movements analyzed as part of the investigations were routed through BlackThorn, a global payments company currently based in the United Kingdom.

The signature that contributed to Vidal’s campaign

This newspaper said at the time that, in addition to Marcos Pereda Born’s relationship with Mauricio Macri, the candidate was one of the main financiers of Macri’s campaigns. In fact, he was part of a platoon of money from rural community leaders that went to support the careers of PRO leaders.

Pereda served as one of the main supporters of María Eugenia Vidal’s candidacy for governor, in that election in which she lost the governorship to Axel Kiselov. The “helicopter man”, a nickname Pereda acquired due to his habit of traveling across fields by air, contributed to the campaign in the following way.

He did this in his personal capacity and through two of his companies. The details show that, on the one hand, he disbursed approximately 3.4 million pesos from his own pocket, to which 1.6 million pesos were added through Eduardo Pereda Agropecuaria SA and Pereda Agro, worth 630,000 pesos. It is this last company that justice has in mind for the operations carried out in the “Croatian” Rojnica cave.