Toxic police raid? Maids allegedly ill after investigators raid home of ex-Argentine leader

Maids poisoned while dusting in the dressing room of an ex-president accused of graft? It sounds like something from an Agatha Christie novel, but it’s actually the latest bizarre twist in an Argentinian corruption probe.

Cleaning staff in the employ of former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner were apparently taken to the hospital after tidying up Kirchner’s apartment in Buenos Aires, following a police raid on the property last week.

According to a statement released by Kirchner’s lawyer, Carlos Alberto Beraldi, the maids experienced “dizziness, strong itching in the throat and eyes and breathing difficulties” while attempting to carry out their cleaning duties. At the hospital they were informed that they had been exposed to a “toxic substance,” and were advised against “re-exposure to the same environment.”

The statement went on to explain that under the circumstances, Kirchner would not return to her home until there is an “examination” of the property and “the items that were subject to manipulation during the raid.”

The search, which was conducted on Thursday, was carried out in hopes of discovering evidence that the former leader was involved in a kickbacks scheme in which she and others in her administration accepted millions of dollars from businessmen in exchange for government contracts. The raid was given the green light after judge Claudio Bonadio, who is heading the investigation into the corruption scandal, successfully petitioned the Senate to lift Kirchner’s congressional immunity that had been blocking investigators from searching Kirchner’s home.

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