Overview

• Federal prosecutors in Tartagal charged ex‑provincial deputy Luis Gerónimo Cisneros and five others with illicit association and aggravated grain contraband, ordering preventive detention for five and seeking fugitive businessman Pablo Emanuel Arequipa with an international warrant.
• Investigators say the network used falsified transport manifests to move roughly 15,000 tonnes of soy, maize and wheat through border‑adjacent depots into Bolivia, with Gendarmería seizing grain valued above ARS 69 million, firearms, cash‑counting machines and documents.
• Case files cite firms linked to the suspects — including LU.MA.CIS SRL, Sergesa SRL and Spray and Seeds Agroservice S.A.S — and officials indicated the economic scheme could also trigger a money‑laundering probe based on seized accounting and invoicing records.
• Separately, a Bank of America record entered as evidence in a US trial shows a US$200,000 transfer dated January 22, 2020 to deputy José Luis Espert; he acknowledges receiving the money and says it was for private consulting, while President Javier Milei publicly backed his statement.
• Opposition blocs called a special lower‑house session for October 8 to remove Espert from the Budget Committee presidency and are testing support for harsher sanctions, as presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said Espert must keep providing explanations.