The government of Argentina has cleared the nation’s former top spy to answer questions about the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found shot to death shortly after leveling accusations against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK).  But the former intelligence chief appears to be avoiding the inquiry.

The prosecutor investigating the Nisman affair issued a subpoena after President Fernandez waived secrecy laws to clear the former spy to share any classified information relevant to Nisman’s death on 18 January.  But Antonio Stiusso is nowhere to be found, and appears to be actively avoiding authorities.  Attempts to locate him at three addresses failed.

Stiusso is a shadowy figure, and only one photograph of him exists.  It’s believed that he was feeding information to Nisman in the inquiry into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center, in which Iran has long been suspected.  But last month, Nisman accused Fernandez of cutting a deal with Iran to exchange Iranian oil for Argentine grain, and to cancel Interpol arrest warrants for the bombing suspects.  After Nisman’s death, courts shied away from his accusations, since no grain-for-oil deal ever took place and Interpol confirmed it was never asked to cancel the warrants for the Iranians.

Fernandez fired Stiusso last year and in recent days introduce legislation to replace the intelligence service – a holdover from the former military junta that ruled Argentina in the 1970s and ‘80s – with a more agency more in line with the country’s democratic values.  For that, she believes that Stiusso is involved with the death of Nisman in order to discredit her government.