Court requests Judge Ercolini to present report on Papel Prensa case

A federal court requested Judge Julián Ercolini to present a report on the state of the case investigating the purchase of Papel Prensa, Argentina’s largest newsprint manufacturer, prior to the decision on the request filed by federal prosecutor Leonel Goméz Barbella to question La Nación director Bartolomé Luis Mitre, Clarín Group CEO Héctor Magnetto and Clarín owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble on their role in the company’s takeover during the country's bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

Gómez Barbella’s request had been rejected by Judge Julián Ercolini who considered there were no grounds to summon Herrera de Noble, Magnetto and Mitre to question them on whether they threatened the heirs of David Graiver — the owner of Papel Prensa, who was killed in a plane crash in August 1976 — in order to get them to sell the company.

On Tuesday, the prosecutor filed a writ requesting an appeals court to revisit Ercolini’s decision.

Now, the Buenos Aires City Federal Court has requested Ercolini to present a report on the current state of the Papel Prensa case.