BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office for a fraud scheme that laundered $1 billion through public works projects. had embezzled
A three-judge panel found the Peronist leader guilty of fraud, but dismissed the charge of running a criminal organization, which could have carried a sentence of 12 years in prison. This is the first time that an Argentine Vice President has been convicted of a crime while in office.
The sentence does not become firm until the appeal is decided, a process that can take years. In the meantime, as long as she continues to be elected, she will remain free from arrest.
Speaking after the verdict, she described herself as a victim of a “judicial mafia”.
His supporters resolved to paralyze the country with a nationwide strike. They jammed downtown Buenos Aires and marched on the federal court building, banging drums and pushing against police roadblocks while shouting.
Fernandez vehemently denied all the allegations. Argentina’s foremost leader in this century, she was accused of improperly awarding public construction contracts to a construction tycoon close to her family.
Supporters of Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez, a former president, rally outside court where judges announced the verdict in her corruption case in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The decision is sure to deepen rifts in the South American country, where politics can be a game of blood and the 69-year-old populist leader is either loved or hated.
Prosecutors said Fernandez fraudulently directed 51 public works projects to Lazaro Baez, a construction magnate and an early ally of her and her husband Nestor Kirchner, who served as president from 2003-2007 and was suddenly elected in 2010. she passed away.
Baez and members of his 2007–2015 presidential administration were among a dozen others accused of conspiracy. The panel sentenced Báez and his Public Works Secretary, José López, to six years in prison. Most others received lesser sentences.
Prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola said that the Baez company was created to embezzle revenue through improperly bidding projects that suffered from cost overruns and were in many cases never completed. He said the company disappeared after the Kirchners were in power for 12 years.
In Argentina, judges in such cases first announce the verdict and sentence and explain how they reached their decision later, but in the face of public pressure in this case, they did so in February before reading aloud the panel’s full verdict. Could have offered some details. After that, the decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court, a process that can take years.
Pollster Roberto Bachman, who directs Argentina’s Center for Public Opinion Studies and supports the campaign of current President Alberto Fernandez, said the opposition party is expecting a campaign to call her a criminal, as well as a thief and a prostitute. have been
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez speaks during the opening plenary session at the Summit of the Americas on June 9, 2022 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
And Cristina Fernandez, who compared her judges to a “firing squad” last month, is set to play the victim, painting the judiciary as a pawn of right-wing forces including the opposition media and Mauricio Macri, who fired her Succeeded him as president, Beckman said.
“So we already know how he will be attacked and also how Kirchnerism will defend him, which is to treat him like Lula as a victim of the ‘law’ [President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva] suffered in Brazil or the former President of Ecuador [Rafael Correa] currently faces,” Beckmann said.
Either way, she remains the sole leader of the left wing of the Peronist movement. Beckmann said his poll shows 62% want him removed and 38% support him no matter what.
Meanwhile, there are other cases pending against him, including money-laundering charges, involving his son and daughter.
