By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Venezuelan government denied any link to a businessman who was stopped at an Argentine airport carrying a suitcase filled with nearly US$800,000 in cash.
The Venezuelan businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, carried the money from Caracas to Buenos Aires on a flight chartered by the Argentine government, and the undeclared funds were seized by customs agents last weekend.
"We don't have anything to do with that plane or with that trip ... nothing to do with that businessman," Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told reporters Friday.
The incident has shaken the Argentine government, prompted one Argentine official to resign and led Venezuelan authorities to launch investigations. Officials so far have given no explanation as to why Antonini Wilson might have had the cash or what sort of business he is in.