REPRINTED
IT Executive Slaughtered at Seaside Resort
Por Hector Calabia
IDG News Service, Buenos Aires Bureau
BUENOS AIRES –
An executive for a British Internet company and his wife were found murdered at a seaside resort in Argentina. The dead couple -- Mariano Losanovsky Perel (known as "Mariano Perel"), 56, and his wife Rosa, 49 – were found shot at rented bungalow in Cariló, an exclusive coastal resort in the province of Buenos Aires. Perel worked at the Buenos Aires office of Antfactory Holdings Ltd., a British Internet investment company.
According to the police, the investigators found a message next to the corpses, which approximately read: "Dead for not paying the City Group bribes". The message was originally written in English, but only a Spanish translation was made known to the press.
Yesterday, Antfactory distributed a press report confirming the deaths. The message states that Mr. Perel served for five months as commercial and financial services director of Antfactory Latin America, Buenos Aires office.
Before working for Antfactory, Perel had worked for The Intrac Group, a US investment compnay, as vice-president for Latin American affairs, said a local news wire.
Antfactory invests in new economy businesses in partnership with some of the world's leading corporations. According to the company's Web page its shareholders and business partners include Whitney & Co, Citicorp Venture Capital, CVC Capital Partners, Allianz Capital Partners, Accenture, Lloyds and several others.
In Buenos Aires, Antfactory is strongly associated with the Citibank. According to the press, Carlos Fredrigotti, president of the local Citibank branch, requested to be the spokesman relative to the tragedy. Apparently, the employees at Antfactory accepted the suggestion and their offices have been closed since Monday. In fact, Antfactory's statement was distributed to the media through the Citibank press agency.
The couple was shot in the back in their bungalow, according to the police. They were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning. As they did not check out, a cleaning lady opened the door, and found them dead.
Police investigators said that the room was "intact". Perel's notebook computer, however, had its hard disk partially erased; but the murderer or murderers had not taken money or credit cards away. The message stating the reason for their murder was a small computer printout. The police are determining whether it was printed at the cabin, or if the killer had brought it. At the place, two unused pistols were found, apparently belonging to Perel himself.
The murders occurred at a very delicate moment for the local branch of the Citibank. Their operations are being investigated by the Democrats at the US Senate subcommittee for suspicions of money laundering, in complicity with local banks that were closed by the national financial authorities.
In July 2000, Antfactory and CVC Latin America (the unit of Citigroup focused on private equity and venture capital investments in Latin America) jointly announced the launch of Antfactory Latin America. According to its press release, Antfactory planned to invest over $100 million in the region. It serves as an "Internet incubator". At present, it has offices in São Paulo (Brazil), Mexico City and Buenos Aires.
In Argentina, Antfactory can be reached at + 5411 4328 3331. In London, Antfactory Holdings Ltd. is at + 44 20 7947 5000 or at http://www.antfactory.com/
|