A government employee, Rodolfo Natalio Stefanon, says he was intercepted by three men on a motorcycle as he approached his home, in an exclusive Buenos Aires neighborhood. He says the thugs used a gun to hit him and took a book bag containing $68,000 dollars and $17,000 euros, the travel funds for the Middle Eastern tour Fernández is currently on.
Officials of the Pink House (Argentina’s version of the White House), doubt the employee’s version, and since the stolen funds belonged to the national treasury, the crime will be investigated by Federal Officials.
Stefanon is in charge of coordinating all flights of the Pink House’s fleet. The alleged victim, declared to police agents that he picked up the funds after obtaining all the appropriate approvals, and was driven to his house by his driver Sergio Federic, an Air Forse sub-officer Cristian Vázquez.
Shortly after arriving to his street, two men intercepted him, hit him with what seemed to be the butt of a gun, threatened him and stole his bag. A third man was waiting for them on a motorcycle.
Government sources are suspicious of Stefanon’s version. They don’t understand why he took the funds in his bag, and to his home, instead of putting it on the safe that is available at the airport where the presidential fleet is kept.
