Kirchner Official Caught Burying Millions Outside Convent
- Former official caught with bags containing up to $8.5 million
- Arrest complicates political return of ex-President Fernandez
Former Public Works Secretary Jose Lopez is arrested on Tuesday while trying to hide millions in cash and jewels in a monastery,
Photographer: Natacha Pisarenko/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
The former No. 2 at Argentina’s Public Works Ministry was arrested after he was caught burying bags containing millions of dollars in cash in the grounds of a convent near Buenos Aires.
Jose Lopez, who served as public works secretary under ex-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, was found with an assault rifle and six bags containing dollars, euros, Japanese yen and Qatari riyal. Local media outlets broadcast and published images of Lopez wearing a bullet-proof vest and riot helmet in custody outside a police station on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.