Politics The main defendant in the case of a presumed shipment of election funds from Venezuela to Argentina, Guido Antonini, said on Thursday in a Miami court, that when the cash was found by Customs in Buenos Aires, he was advised to say that the money belonged to him; otherwise, he would get into troubles.

Antonini said that after the seizure of a suitcase stuffed with USD 800,000, a woman showed up in the Customs office. She promised to solve the problem and asked him to sign a record, where he should declare the cash as its own, AFP reported.

"I told her that the money was not mine. She told me: 'Shut up; I was sent here to solve this issue,'" Antonini told the jury.

The woman was María Cristina Galli, a presumed official at the Buenos Aires airport. However, her position was not specified.

Antonini said that an employee completed the attestation signed by him.

The event was to be recorded as an offense. The Argentinean state would seize 50 percent of the money and the other 50 percent would be returned to its alleged owner. As promised, "I would be able to remain with these USD 400,000," said Antonini.

In this way, both the Venezuelan and the Argentinean governments would be held harmless from the sending of these funds.