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Former Procuración Official Found Dead Days Before Corruption Trial

An autopsy is pending to determine whether a stab wound was self-inflicted, a result that could change evidence in the corruption trial.

Overview

  • Guillermo Bellingi, 55, a former subdirector of the Procuración General, was found dead in Villa Elisa, La Plata, with a stab wound and police opened a criminal inquiry.
  • Authorities reported personal items and a traditional wooden-handled knife at the scene and said the body showed no obvious defensive wounds, but forensic tests will determine cause and manner of death.
  • Bellingi was a principal accused in the case over the 2013 purchase of the Petit Hotel at Perón 667 that prosecutors say was steered to benefit intermediaries and allow large commissions.
  • Court records name Argentina Financiera S.A. (Arfinsa) as the seller for 43,850,000 pesos and list Bellingi’s half brother, Juan Carlos Thill, as an intermediary who received a reported 3 million peso commission.
  • The oral trial in Federal Criminal Court No. 8 was due to start in weeks with former procuradora Alejandra Gils Carbó also accused and the pending autopsy could shape prosecutors’ evidence and the court’s next procedural steps.