Claudio Cirigliano

Sergio Claudio Cirigliano is an Argentinian businessman who, with his brother Mario, operates major rail and bus concessions in Buenos Aires and elsewhere in Argentina through the Grupo Plaza conglomerate. One source has described the brothers as making up “one of the most powerful business groups in the country.”

Cirigliano and his brother were widely held responsible for the deadly Once railway disaster in February 2012, which occurred on one of the railway lines that they ran, because they had allegedly pocketed government subsidies intended to cover maintenance costs. Grupo Plaza was said to have been awarded concessions for rail and bus lines because of Cirigliano's close friendships with Presidents Carlos Menem, Nestor Kirchner, and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Also, Cirigliano was accused of having bribed Secretaries of Transportation Ricardo Jaime and Juan Pablo Schiavi, who directly oversaw the awarding of rail and bus concessions. Later in 2012, both Cirigliano and his brother Mario went on trial on charges of corruption and fraudulent administration in connection with the Once crash.

La Nación described him as the “successful driver of the K line,” the “K” being a sardonic reference to his close connections to the Kirchner family.

Early life and education Cirigliano is the son of Nicola Cirigliano, who was born in Vaglio Basilicata, Italy, and moved to Argentina at age 18. After working as a laborer and truck driver, Nicola borrowed money from a friend and bought a bus route. This was the beginning of a transport firm, originally called Transporte Automotor Plaza, which he founded in 1959. Claudio, born in 1964 or 1965 (in September 2009, he was 44 years old), was Nicola's last-born son. Claudio grew up in Parque Patricios and studied at a technical college.

Claudio Cirigliano's friendships with presidents Carlos Menem and Nestor Kirchner played a crucial role in the growth of the family business, winning the Ciriglianos more and more concessions and subsidies. One source attributes their success largely to their ability to form “strategic ties with shifting political powers.” The Cirigliano brothers have been described as being “forever friends of power,” whose business was created and maintained through government subsidies. Claudio's closeness to Menem is reflected in the fact that he was part of the entourage that accompanied Menem on his first visit to the UK. In the 1990s, the two men played golf together frequently. According to La Nación, Claudio manages the department that deals with lines of transport, while Mario is in charge of the subsidiary Consorcio Metropolitano de Transporte (Cometrans); in turn, says La Nación, Cometrans controls the firms TBA (trains), Emfer (rail equipment construction), TAT SA (bus construction) and Ferrovial Baires (buildings and railway infrastructure). Yet another source identifies Claudio as the largest shareholder in TBA and Roque Cirigliano, the brothers' cousin, as manager of TBA's rolling stock. Still another source describes Grupo Plaza as the transport division of the Cirigliano Group, with TBA, Emfer, and TATSA also being divisions of the Cirigliano Group, along with Lua La porteña (an insurance firm), Opportrans, and, until 2007, Rio de Janeiro Metro (both foreign concessions). The Cirigliano Group is also involved in bilateral projects, such as the railroad between Argentina and Uruguay. Also, the brothers own a subsidiary of Cometrans called Cometrans Qatar, founded in 2009 with the purpose of entering the Arab market. On behalf of Cometrans Qatar, Claudio Cirigliano carried out negotiations with Qatargas that concluded in January 2011. The result was an arrangement whereby Argentina would import 8 million dollars' worth of gasoline per day. Cometrans Qatar also constructed a 2,177-kilometer railway line connecting parts of Saudi Arabia with the United Arab Emirates. The firm also entered into a collaborative arrangement in January 2010 with Aamal Company QSC.

Today Grupo Plaza calls itself “la empresa de impresas” – “the business of businesses.” It operates 40 urban lines, 20 in the City of Buenos Aires, 12 in the city of Bahía Blanca and 8 lines in the city of Santa Rosa, La Pampa. The group also owns the firms Transporte Automotor Plaza, Mayo Transporte Automotor, Transporte Mariano Moreno, Transporte 104, Ecotrans (which runs 10 rural bus lines), Dumas Cat, Plus Ultra Mercobus, and El Rápido Argentino. Transporte Automotor Plaza, Dumas Cat, Plus Ultra Mercobus, and El Rápido Argentino all run medium- and long-distance services. The following firms provide the following transport services: Transporte Automotor Plaza runs lines 114, 124, 133, 140, 142, 143; Mayo Transporte Automotor runs line 141; Transporte Mariano Moreno runs line 36; Ecotrans runs the provincial lines 253, 321, 322, 317, 503, and 635. Grupo Plaza also controls the firm Sistemas Integrados de Gestion (SIG) SA, which provides IT services and develops software and other computer technology with transport applications. The Cirigliano family has control of city trains that transport 40 percent of the daily urban train traffic in Buenos Aires. Claudio Cirigliano has maintained that the subsidies are necessary to keep fares down. Specifically, the brothers were accused of bribing Ricardo Jaime, who served as Secretary of Transportation from 2003 to 2009, and Juan Pablo Schiavi, who held the same post from 2009 to 2012, with personal gifts and free travel. It was suggested that the Argentinian government had failed to “impose the necessary controls on TBA and its owner, the Cirigliano Group, due to its close personal relations with the president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.” On June 5, 2012, Bonadio ordered Cirigliano's arrest along with that of three other TBA executives for obstructing the investigation of the Once crash. Also arrested were Carlo Ferrari, president of TBA; Dario Tempone, managing director of TBA; and Daniel Rubio, director of administration for TBA.

On June 19, 2012, Federal Prosecutor Federico Delgado requested the prosecution of thirty persons, including Claudio and Antonio Cirigliano and former transport secretaries Juan Pablo Schiavi and Ricardo Jaime, in connection with the Once train crash.

La Nación reported on October 19, 2012, that Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, as well as former Secretaries of Transport Ricardo Jaime and Juan Pablo Schiavi, were being prosecuted in connection with the Once crash. The Cirigliano brothers were charged with conspiracy. While Bonadio had also indicted seven former TBA officials, he dismissed charges against the driver of the wrecked train, Marco Antonio Córdoba, and Antonio Sícaro, former comptroller of the National Commission for Transport Regulation (CNRT). La Nación further noted that Bonadio had ordered the Cirigliano brothers held in pre-trial detention, but that the Federal Chamber had cancelled the order. La Nación also quoted Minister of Interior and Transportation Florencio Randazzo as saying that the Sarmiento and Mitre train lines were “calamitous, a real disaster” as a result of the granting of the concession to the Cirigliano family.

The Chamber of Appeals declared inadmissible on September 24, 2014, appeals by Claudio Cirigliano and Jaime, who were on trial for the exchange of gifts.

Personal life Because of his size, Cirigliano was nicknamed “El Gordo” until 2008, when he had a gastric bypass operation and lost a good deal of weight.