A criminal court in Argentina this Tuesday (06/12) sentenced the country’s vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to six years in prison for fraudulent administration for 12 years spent with her and her late husband’s ex-husband. President Néstor Kirchner ruled the country from 2003 to 2015.
However, the vice president was acquitted of the charge of being an illegal association chairman.
The sentence bans the former president from public office for life.
For the first time in the country’s history, an incumbent vice president has been tried and convicted.
But the decision doesn’t mean Kirchner will go to jail right away because the appeal must take the case to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court, a process that could take years.
Kirchner also has privileges that prevent him from being arrested until December 10, 2023, when his term as vice president expires. He could run for a new post in next year’s elections, which could extend his immunity.
He denies the allegations and claims to be the victim. legal remedyA form of persecution of political enemies through justice. In this sense, he has always compared himself to former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who will take over Planalto on January 1, 2023. It is cancelled.
The former president was accused and convicted of favoring a partner in millionaire roadworks and ten other Kirchnerist employees. Check out the details of the case below, what Cristina Kirchner’s defense said and what should have happened to her.
accusations
The former president was convicted of doing public works in the Patagonian state of Santa Cruz, where Néstor Kirchner ruled for more than a decade before becoming president and where the vice president currently resides.
Prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola said the Kirchners “instilled and perpetuated one of the most extraordinary matrices of corruption that has sadly and unfortunately developed in the country, within Santa Cruz’s national and state administration.”
The prosecution claimed that in 2003, days before Nestor took office, the couple founded a construction company called Austral Construcciones and managed most of the roadworks in Santa Cruz.
According to prosecutors, the Kirchners appointed a partner and family friend to head the construction company, which was acting as a front: Lázaro Báez, former director of the Santa Cruz Bank construction site, according to the Public Ministry.
Báez, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for money laundering last year, was also convicted in the case that was settled on Tuesday, along with eleven other former Kirchner employees. One of them is former Minister of Public Works José López, who is currently imprisoned in other corruption cases. He was seen carrying a bag of dollars to a monastery in 2016.
According to Luciani and Mola, the Austral Construcciones were selected in bids to build 51 jobs, which was 79% of the jobs in the state of Santa Cruz during the Kirchners’ rule of the country. But only two were completed on time and half were never completed. In addition, the prosecutors stated that the millionaires had overcharged the company and demanded that the money be confiscated from the convicts’ assets.
Prosecutors said in their claim that irregularities in favor of Báez increased in 2007 and 2011, the national election years Kirchnerism won. Luciani and Mola assured that the illegal organization was trying to raise money for the campaigns.
Austral Construcciones ceased operations in December 2015, with the resignation of Cristina Kirchner. For prosecutors, this indicates a link between Lázaro Báez’s construction company and Kirchners.
What does Cristina Kirchner say?
The main argument of Cristina Kirchner’s defense is that the Prosecutor’s Office did not provide any evidence – no documents or messages – to show the former president’s direct and personal connection to Lázaro Báez with the business concession.
Saying, “There are twelve administrative cases of national and provincial nature among the reported affairs with the Presidency of the nation,” the vice president explained on his Twitter account that he refuted many allegations presented by prosecutors.
The defense also argued that the courts did not have the power to decide how a democratically elected government distributed public investments.
Kirchner stated that a head of state cannot be held responsible for the way public tenders are conducted.
“It is the chief of staff who runs the budget, not the president or president of the country,” said the current vice president, adding that when Congress approves the budget law, it approves investments in businesses, including some votes from allies. by former president Mauricio Macri.
“Investment in public roadworks in Santa Cruz was strongly justified by the road network’s deficit in 2003”. Cristina Kirchner argued that the 51 studies in question had already been investigated by the state Justice, who found no traces. corruption.
What will happen now
The Oral Tribunal, composed of Giménez Uriburu, Jorge Gorini and Andrés Basso, will explain the reasons for his sentence on March 9, 2023, after the summer judicial recess.
In this case, the vice president’s lawyers can appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
If this example upholds the sentence, the defense can still appeal to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Cristina Kirchner will remain free and will be able to run in the October 2023 general election.
If his sentence is upheld after appeals and he is currently serving in the Executive or Legislature, he must be removed from office through a political process before he can go to prison.
If that happens, Kirchner may end up under house arrest, as he will turn 70 next February – the age at which assistance can be requested.
Alongside the first trial in the Vialidad case, the former president is also on trial in another major case known as the “corruption ledgers”. In it, Cristina Kirchner is accused of taking bribes from businessmen in public works.
The case was brought to the judiciary in 2019, but there is no start date yet for the process in which many businessmen and former employees, including Mauricio Macri’s cousin, are accused.
– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63882462.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.