Rome - FAO DG José Graziano da Silva has ordered the agency's Latin American top jefe to send his girlfriend back to Buenos Aires as part of a crackdown on nepotism, FAO sources say.
    Fun-loving Assistant Director General Raoul Benitez reportedly took girlfriend Natasha Garcia with him from Argentina to FAO regional headquarters at Santiago, Chile, and hired her as a consultant, the sources said. Dr Graziano evidently got wind of the cosy arrangement in Chile, where he previously served himself as ADG, and persuaded Dr. Benitez to send Ms Garcia back to Argentina, where she continued to work for FAO for many months, said the sources.
   It was not immediately clear why the ADG's arrangement was considered inappropriate given that nepotism long has been rife in many offices of the agency in south America.
  Italian Insider disclosed recently that the appointment of the Latin American Communications Officer had been rigged so as to ensure that Juan José Toha, a nephew of the head of the Chilean Socialist Party and Mayor of Santiago Caroline Toha received the sought-after job, excluding two better qualified women candidates.
   Toha remains in place despite an investigation opened into the case by the FAO's Joint Inspection Unit following a complaint by one of the women, FAO sources said .

 Ms Garcia previously was in the news in Argentina earlier this year when she worked as a legal officer in the Argentine province of San Juan and awarded a woman who died after being repeatedly stabbed, allegedly by her husband, a restraining order against him.

  Embarrassed authorities apologised publicly to the family of Cristina Olivares, who was 25, a mother of two and pregnant when she was stabbed 140 times with a knife in 2012.

 Suspected of the crime and in custody awaiting trial are her husband Miguel Angel Palma, his mistress and a friend of theirs.

 Olivares had repeatedly reported her husband for domestic violence. Earlier this year, her father Federico received a notice advising his daughter she was being granted a restraining order against Palma.

 Olivares' body was found along a country road about 20 kilometres from the northwest city of San Juan.

Ms Garcia was quoted by SBS News saying "We summoned her to inform her that her request was going to be met, as she had requested protection and we wanted to notify her."

 Ms Garcia was quoted as saying she had been working for the FAO in Chile at the time of the murder and therefore was not aware of it.