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15 Sep 2009 07:00
GRUPO CLARIN S.A.
Press Release
On 11 September 2009, Grupo Clarín S.A. (the "Company") informed the Argentine Securities Commission of the publication, on 10 September 2009, of the attached press release.
Enquiries:
In Buenos Aires:
Alfredo Marín/
M. Julia Díaz Ardaya/Alejandro Yu
Grupo Clarín
Email: investors@grupoclarin.com
In London:
Alex Money/Lorna Ellen
Temple Bar Advisory
Tel: +44 20 7002 1080
Email: clarin@templebaradvisory.com
In New York:
Melanie Carpenter/Peter Majeski
I-advize Corporate Communications
Tel: +1 212 406 3692
Email: clarin@i-advize.com
PRESS RELEASE / GRUPO CLARÍN
Faced with the surprising, unusual and intimidating inspection operation that took place today at the headquarters of the Clarín newspaper and other companies of the Group, we hereby state that:
The operation carried out by 200 inspectors of the Argentine Federal Revenue Service (AFIP) at the newspaper's headquarters, and by another 100 inspectors at other companies such as Artear and Cablevisión, as well as our offices in the province of Córdoba, were both disproportionate and menacing in terms of the number of inspectors sent to our premises.
The simultaneous operations launched at the private homes of directors, members of the supervisory committee and attorneys of Grupo Clarín, involving in certain cases up to eight inspectors, also suggest that the purpose behind the operations exceeded those of a routine inspection.
The peculiar characteristics of the operation are not within the standard procedures applied by the AFIP. The obvious intention to put on a spectacular display is in sharp contrast with the scope of the tasks, which could have been performed in an orderly fashion by no more than ten percent of the officials that were deployed.
Notwithstanding the intimidation, the companies provided all information requested. Grupo Clarín is a listed company, which publishes all of its financial statements and complies with all of its tax and social security obligations.
We cannot avoid noting that this operation takes place in the context of an escalation of aggressive and intimidating actions registered in recent times against the media in general, and Clarín's journalists and executives in particular.
This escalation has included defamatory campaigns with signs and graffiti on the streets, and attacks against the newspaper's agencies and private homes of executives of the Group, as well as a series of abusive and illegal administrative acts issued by the Secretariat of Communications, the Secretariat of Domestic Commerce and the Federal Broadcasting Committee, among others. The escalation in the aggression against the media and Clarín also occurs in the context of the discussions about the controversial media bill promoted by the current administration.
Buenos Aires, 10 September 2009
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