Argentina’s largest Jewish community organization has denied claims that prosecutor Alberto Nisman offered funds from a U.S. tycoon in order to aid efforts by the Jewish community to block implementation of a memorandum between Argentina and Iran.
The accusation was first made in an article in daily newspaper Pagina 12 over the weekend and then mentioned on Sunday by President Cristina Fernandez on her Web page, the Latin American Herald Tribune said.
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In a radio interview, DAIA vice president Waldo Wolff called the article “nonsense”, saying “It’s part of a campaign that is not coincidental, it’s part of ‘lie, lie and something will stick.’”
“It’s based on an article by a former employee who today is employed by this government and is telling lies. Lies that are impossible to prove…because it’s impossible to prove something that one did not do, ” Wolff said.
“Never has a president grasped onto an article of doubtful origin…We don’t have to give a response; regrettably we’re the victims, ” he added.
Fernandez repeated the article’s claim that Nisman offered the Jewish community aid from Paul Singer, owner of NML Capital Limited hedge fund, who is also involved in a lawsuit to collect Argentinian debt.
The president cited parts of the article claiming meetings were held in 2013 between Nisman, then the special prosecutor investigating the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, and Jewish leaders, the Herald Tribune said.
Fernandez accused AMIA and DAIA leaders, along with Nisman, of trying to have the memorandum ruled as unconstitutional.
Nisman was found shot dead on Jan. 18, four days after he charged Fernandez of covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 terrorist attack which claimed 85 lives.
The late prosecutor was driven by a passion to bring to justice the Iranian officials his evidence allegedly showed had been behind the bombing. His death is considered a reminder of how Argentina has over the last two decades been bungling the investigation into the attack, The Guardian said.
