Over 100 candidates of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) filed a presentation assuring they weren’t asked for money to run, after presidential hopeful and LLA coalition leader Javier Milei was accused of selling candidacies for his party.

A document signed by 120 candidates was presented before the National Electoral prosecutor’s office on Tuesday. Ramiro González, the prosecutor in charge, started an investigation against LLA last week following the claims.

“We were never asked for any money in hopes of being proposed for a candidacy,” the document reads. The candidates also rejected the “false accusations” Milei and his party are facing, saying everything is being “orchestrated by spurious interests.”

Last week, the prosecutor cited the “seriousness” of these claims as a reason to open a preliminary investigation and determine whether electoral law had been broken. The first step of the investigation was to call in those making the accusations, including businessman and politician Juan Carlos Blumberg, liberal political leader and former LLA member Carlos Maslatón, and former LLA activist Mila Zurbriggen, among others.

Blumberg accused the coalition’s political organizers Carlos Kikuchi, Sebastián Pareja, and Javier’s sister, Karina Milei, of selling places on the ballots. “There are people who paid US$50,000 for a counselor position,” Blumberg said in an interview with La Red radio station.

Pareja was the first one on the list of people who signed the document  dismissing the accusations.

The testimonies

Former LLA ally Maslatón testified on Friday. Blumberg sent a letter to the prosecutor expressing his “total willingness” to assist with the investigation. Meanwhile, Zurbriggen and former Milei ally Rebeca Fleitas, who is currently a Buenos Aires city LLA law-maker, testified this Tuesday.

Zurbriggen said that she learned about the candidacies being “for sale” through third parties and that she fears for her safety, according to sources from the investigation cited by Télam.

Around six months ago, Zurbriggen had told Télam that “candidacies were being sold for sexual favors.”

Fleitas, on the other hand, said her issues were not with LLA, but another party. According to Fleitas, they wanted to choose her legislative advisors after she won a seat at the BA city Legislature following the 2021 elections, the same sources said.

Milei’s response

In response to the backlash he is facing, Milei sent a letter to Attorney General Eduardo Casal saying Gonzalez’ investigation is an “illegitimate intrusion in the electoral process.”

Milei said that the only purpose of the prosecutor’s preliminary investigation is to undermine the public image of the party and himself, and asked Casal to investigate if González started the inquiry following a request by other parties or candidates.

He also asked Casal to determine whether the investigation was launched “with the only purpose of confusing voters, undermining the democratic process” and harming his image towards the elections.
Last week, Milei had said that Blumberg’s allegations are the product of spite, since he was rejected as a candidate for Buenos Aires province governor and that all candidates for La Libertad Avanza have to “self-finance” their campaigns.