Tannery closure row becomes political
03/04/2008
A tanning business at Nonogasta in northern Argentina that had to close down last year because of its lack of commercial success is at the centre of a political row in the country.
Reports from two Buenos Aires-based banks have shown that the company that ran the tannery, Yoma, owes them hundreds of millions of dollars. They and private creditors lent the company owner, Emir Yoma, an estimated total of $300 million during the 1990s when Mr Yoma's brother-in-law, Carlos Menem, was the country's president.
A buyer for the tannery has failed to come forward, despite interest from some big names in the South American leather industry, including the Bom Retiro group from Brazil.
To try to raise some of the money Yoma owes, a judge has ordered that a number of buildings and plots of land the company owns in different parts of Argentina be sold at auction at the end of this month.
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