Argentine spy at center of Nisman case accused of smuggling

Antonio Stiuso, the Argentine spy at the center of a scandal over last month’s death of state prosecutor Alberto Nisman, was accused on Tuesday of importing tonnes of contraband merchandise during his final years as head of the country’s counterintelligence office.Stiuso was forced out of the SI intelligence service in December, weeks before Nisman accused President Cristina Fernandez of trying to cover up Iran’s alleged involvement in a deadly 1994 bombing. The government says Nisman, who was found shot dead on Jan. 18, was manipulated by Stiuso into leveling the accusation as a way of smearing Fernandez.

These goods did not go to the SI, nor did they serve any function of the agency…Much of this merchandise entered the country under the name Antonio Stiuso.

National intelligence chief Oscar Parrilli

Since Nisman’s death, initially labeled a suicide, suspicion has fallen on Kirchner’s government of orchestrating Nisman’s murder, and has called to question the integrity of the Argentine justice system to a boil. Judges have been assigned to look at the evidence against Fernandez and that against Stiuso, to make sure the allegations are not simply a case of smear and counter smear by warring factions in the murky world of Argentine intelligence.

Americas Nisman