Following the announcement of the joint venture alliance of Ladbrokes and Cirsa in Spain comes the assurance that the incident last month, in which the private jet carrying Cirsa head Manuel Lao was discovered in Argentina to have off-loaded half a million undeclared Euros, has been officially recognised as an administrative error. The Administracion Federal de Ingresos Publicos (AFIP) ruled on 28 December that a definitive resolution had been reached, and accepted the Cirsa explanation that the money had been mistakenly removed from the aeroplane where it was kept to cover unforeseen eventualities.

The confiscated €500,000 has been returned but a fine for the administrative error has been levied. The company must pay €230,000 but has received back all the Christmas gifts that were also confiscated at the time. Cirsa previously claimed that the €500,000 had been duly declared in Spain. The large jamon Serrano (ham) discovered amongst the Cirsa baggage will not be returned – its importation into Argentina is prohibited.

Spanish company Cirsa seems to have been dogged by questions of possible money laundering for around a decade, so far overcoming such charges. In Chile the subject was again raised during the investigative process for the new casino licences in Chile. Cirsa had projects for seven cities the length and breadth of Chile, but failed to win any licences. It also lost its court appeals against the decisions taken by the Casino Commission. (E-01.10.07)

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