Overview
- The fiscal in La Plata, Juan Menucci, has summoned ten former provincial senators to testify as witnesses between Monday and Wednesday next week in the investigation known as “Chocolate II.”
- Prosecutors say the probe centers on 39 debit cards issued in the Senate to alleged 'ñoquis' or ghost employees whose salaries were withdrawn by operators tied to Hugo Muguerza and María Josefina Ortellado.
- Video from Banco Provincia first identified Muguerza and Ortellado making repeated ATM withdrawals and showed them interacting with Julio 'Chocolate' Rigau, producing the images that opened the Senate strand of the case.
- Accountants from the Procuración General are carrying out a forensic review of the account movements to map transfers and trace where payroll funds ended up, while those imputados linked to the cards have not yet been formally indagated.
- The Chamber of Deputies voted to archive administrative files the justice had requested and the judge in the Rigau case has filed a criminal complaint for possible cover‑up, a step that could widen the inquiry and affect local party networks and officials named in the files.