Former chief advisor to President Alberto Fernández, Antonio Aracre, was charged with sexual abuse of a minor after being reported to police on Friday.

Officers raided two apartments that belong to Aracre in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires City, seizing blankets, towels, underwear, electronic devices, and a BMW. According to Télam, these items could be used as evidence in their investigation. 

Aracre became CEO of the Chinese seed company Syngenta for the Latin American region in 2010, after working there for over two decades. Towards the end of his tenure, he developed a close relationship with the ruling Unión por la Patria government.

Aracre left Syngenta in October 2022 and was named chief advisor to President Fernández in February 2023. At the time, he promised to “bring the private and public sectors closer together” on the website X, then known as Twitter.

As a member of the administration, he supported the creation of the Export Increase Program (PIE, by its Spanish acronym), popularly known as “agro dollar” or dólar soja. The program sought to benefit agricultural producers and incentivize them to export their stock, thus bringing dollars into the country.

His time on Fernández’s team of advisors was short. On April 18, he announced he was resigning, effective immediately.

Although he had appeared with former Economy Minister Martín Guzmán before becoming chief advisor, Aracre distanced himself from the incumbent Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa while he was part of the government, criticizing the high inflation and exchange rate policies he oversaw.

In recent months, Aracre has harshly criticized the government’s economic policies, publicly backing Juntos por el Cambio’s Patricia Bullrich for president.

“Patricia Bullrich, along with [Carlos] Melconian, can bring economic rationality into the country,” he said in an interview with Nacional Rock radio station on August 31, referring to the candidate and her prospective Economy Minister.

With information from Télam.