Former Rosario port chief questioned over alleged narco and corruption money laundering scheme

Gustavo Pedro Shanahan, the former head of Terminal Puerto Rosario, was questioned on Friday along with his wife and two children over alleged money laundering tied to corruption proceeds and drug sales. For high-risk payment and acquiring businesses, the interesting part is not the criminal color, it is the mechanism: cash was allegedly routed through a port-linked financial structure, then converted into licit-looking funds through dollars and casino chips.

1. Shanahan was convicted in December 2023 for drug trafficking, and this latest case is separate: federal prosecutors say he, his family, and other participants ran a laundering operation built around proceeds from corruption and narcotics sales.
2. The investigation says the transactions were first coordinated with Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, son of the former Catalan political leader, between 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors allege that money was moved through an offshore vehicle to obscure and recycle assets derived from bribes and illegal commissions linked to Catalan politics.
3. When that channel was cut off, the alleged network reportedly shifted to the criminal organization of Julio Andrés Rodríguez Granthon, who is in prison. Prosecutors say the group set up an office in central Rosario to sell dollars above the blue rate and to launder cash through casino chips.
4. The questioning took place under Argentina’s old federal criminal procedure system because the case dates back to 2019. Judge Carlos Vera Barros handled the hearing together with prosecutors Diego Velasco and Juan Argibay Molina from Procelac, and Matías Scilabra, Matías Mené and Federico Reynares Solari from the Unit for Complex Cases of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
5. After the hearing, Judge Vera Barros ordered Gustavo and Esteban Shanahan to remain in custody pending the ruling on their procedural status. Lucila Shanahan was released, while Graciela Niobe Tuero, 70, was granted house arrest because of a mental health diagnosis.

Prosecutors also say Shanahan acted irregularly as an intermediary in the sale of shares in Terminal Puerto Rosario, the concessionaire for docks I and II. The later purchase of a majority stake by Vicentin and the Chilean group Ultramar is part of the same factual backdrop, which matters for anyone watching how port infrastructure, corporate ownership, and cross-border cash flows can end up in the same case file.