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Alert

Journalist's home robbed of documents on case of alleged corruption

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 27 March 2007, three armed men entered the home of journalist Carlos Russo, editor of "Perfil" weekly. After locking him in a room with his wife and daughter, the intruders went through his papers and stole, among other things, Russo's notebook and documents on a corruption case he has been investigating since mid-2006.

According to Russo's account of the incident, published in "Perfil" on 1 April, the three men took advantage of his wife's return to the building to burst into the home. The assailants were carrying revolvers and stole about US$60, a pair of rings, a DVD burner, two cell phones and Russo's electronic agenda. However, the theft aroused suspicion because they also stole a notebook and all the documents on the "Skanska case" - an investigation published by Russo about alleged tax evasion and payment of bribes by a Swedish construction company during the bidding on a contract for the enlargement of a gasline, allegedly involving high-level officials of the federal planning ministry (Ministerio de Planificación Federal). The ministry is led by Julio de Vido, one of the best-known figures in President Néstor Kirchner's government.