Roberto Vignati

Roberto Vignati is an Argentinian businessman who gained prominence in 2014 when it was revealed that his firm Bioart SA had been selected by the Argentinian government to act as the sole intermediary in exports of rice and corn to Venezuela, and that it had made inordinate profits on the arrangement.

Media in both countries noted that Vignati enjoyed close ties to the administration of Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and that, prior to the export deal, which had gone into effect in 2013, his firm had been involved only in the retail sale of fertilizer and seeds.

Early life and education Vignati is from the town of Arteaga in the department of Caseros, province of Santa Fe.

Clarín has stated that according to some sources, Vignati's father fought on the Peronist left in the 1970, and Vignati used that fact to win the friendship of Planning Minister Julio De Vido.

Career Bioart SA Bioart SA was founded in 2009, but did not register as a grain wholesaler until November 2013. On paper, its owners were Vignati's sisters María Isabel and María Eugenia, but he was the company's public representative. The alleged “middlemen” in the report were Vignati and his siblings, whose firm, Bioart SA, was granted sole permission by the Argentinian government to export rice to Venezuela. The firm ended up exporting the grain at an approximately 30% profit.

Other business activity Vignati owns several other businesses. Caisa SRL sells agricultural supplies in Cruz Alta, a town near Arteaga. Inarg SA, a silo and machinery manufacturing firm, was established in April 2014. Rosart Desarollo SA, a real-estate firm, was founded in June 2014. In Bell Ville, Vignati owns a stud farm called Juan Antonio, which has over 40 thoroughbred race horses. In addition, as of July 2014, Vignati was still managing a sports club in Arteaga.

Allegations of corruption On July 7, 2014, Clarín published a long article in which it revealed that Bioart SA, which it described as “a dubious company with ties to power,” had been exporting rice and corn from Argentina to Venezuela at intentionally inflated prices in accordance with a deal arranged by the Argentinian government. Clarín also noted the involvement in the deal of María Gabriela Chávez, Julio De Vido, and Argentina's ambassador to Venezuela, Carlos Cheppi. Clarín quoted the Cámara de Industriales Arroceros de Entre Ríos, a rice-growers' group, as saying that the Bioart deal was benefiting “a few entrepreneurs” in Argentina while hurting many other Argentinians. According to Clarín, the rice industry was “furious” over the deal, under which they were paid a far lower rate for rice sold to Venezuela than their counterparts in Uruguay and Brazil.

Clarín reported on July 28, 2014, that although the selection of Bioart as the sole intermediary in the sale of rice to Venezuela could be considered an instance of anti-competitive practices, as defined by the National Commission for Protection of Competition (CNDC), that organization was not likely to criticize the arrangement, because the president of the CNDC, Ricardo Napolitani, is a close friend of Vignati's and has been referred to as an obedient servant of the Kirchner dynasty. Indeed, far from criticizing Vignati, Napolitani was his “protector,” Clarín was told by one source. Clarín also noted links between Vignati and other individuals in the Kirchner circle.

Corruption charges In mid July 2014, opposition Venezuelan legislators Abelardo Díaz and Homero Ruíz filed corruption and fraud charges with the Public Prosecutor of Caracas in connection with Vignati's inflated prices. The legislators also asked the prosecutor to investigate María Gabriela Chávez and former Food Minister Felix Osorio and to ask for Cheppi to be recalled as ambassador.

On July 29, 2014, Clarín reported that Vignati was not only exporting rice and corn to Venezuela at highly inflated prices, but had also acted as an intermediary in the export of agricultural machinery from Argentina to Venezuela, via Bioart SA and another firm, Acoplados El Grillo. Clarín noted that El Grillo, based in Arrecifes, was officially owned by Jorge Bulgarelli, the lawyer of María Eugenia Vignati, and that Roberto Vignati had earlier been involved with Bulgarelli in his ultimately scandalous effort to do business in Ecuador. Clarín also pointed out that Ricardo Rodriguez Miranda, president of Pedro Camejo, a company created by Chávez in 2007 to further Venezuela's agricultural mechanization, had known Vignati since 2008, when Rodriguez had worked for another Venezuela state company, Legumes Alba SA, and had approved contracts with Marisa, the silo firm owned by Vignati's mother's family.

Kirchner ties On September 8, 2014, Los Andes reported that three people who knew Roberto Vignati said he had been awarded the role as grain-sales intermediary due to his close family ties with the Kirchners. Los Andes further noted that despite the controversy, Bioart had received “official permission to export another boatload of corn” to Venezuela. The precise amount of the new shipment would be 46,957 tons; the price was not made public.