Corruption Trial Could Mark the Coda of Kirchner Family’s Power in Argentina

A corruption trial centered around Vice President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina threatens her political future and could serve as the coda to her family’s long domination of the country’s power centers. The left wing populist Mrs. Kirchner, who lost the presidency in 2015, initially assumed office in 2007 after the death of her husband, Nestor, who became president in 2003. After four years out of office, she became vice president in 2019. In that capacity she is widely seen as the power behind the current president, Alberto Fernandez. Will corruption allegations against Mrs. Kirchner, her late husband, and her children end her Peron-like sway over the country? On Monday, the prosecution in a months-long corruption trial is expected to finalize its closing argument — after which a long legal process is expected. Even if Mrs. Kirchner is convicted, her 2023 presidential campaign might not be affected, an Argentinian lawyer, Guillermo Arias, told the Sun. She would only be disqualified from running once a sentence is finalized, which could “take a long time,” he said. The chief prosecutor, Diego Luciani, argued during the trial that when Mrs. Kirchner was president, and during her husband’s presidency before that, corruption patterns worsened beyond what “unfortunately and sadly ever existed in the country.” Mrs. Kirchner allegedly headed a pyramid scheme that took money from the state coffers and awarded it in the form of public contracts in the province of Santa Cruz. A friend of the Kirchners, Lazaro Baez, who since 2021 has been in jail for money laundering, was the day-to-day head of the project. Mrs. Kirchner’s trial, which began in May 2019, was interrupted by the pandemic. More than 100 witnesses have testified to date, including her former chief of staff and the current president, who in February said that the way a government distributes public work money is “not prosecutable.”The prosecutor has been presenting closing arguments over nine sessions and is scheduled to finish Monday. He made clear that he would ask for a sentence that could run between 5 and 16 years in prison. Any sentence must later be reviewed in an appeals court, as well as the Supreme Court. Mr. Arias says he expects sentencing to be determined before the end of this year. Last week, Mrs. Kirchner attempted to remove Mr. Luciani and Judge Rodrigo Gimenez Uriburu from the case. She based her accusation on a picture published by a leftist newspaper, Pagina 12, that showed the judge and the prosecutor playing soccer together at the house of one of her political rivals, Mauricio Macri, a former president.“Everything makes sense. Today, Pagina 12 proves that the illicit association is theirs. The president of the court and the prosecutor of the case playing soccer in the country house of Mauricio Macri,” Mrs. Kirchner tweeted. The accusation was dismissed by judges Jorge Gorini and Andres Basso, who considered the information provided by the vice president to be old and failed to show proof of friendship. Mrs. Kirchner has been investigated for about a dozen alleged crimes throughout the past decade. Most of them have been dismissed for lack of supporting evidence. At least five cases remain in the trial phase. The current trial, known as “Vialidad,” is in a more “complete state” in the process, Mr. Arias said. “If there’s greater or better evidence it is not possible to know, as ultimately what matters is how the court assesses it,” he said. “However, the objective data of its procedural status, where there is also an accusation of the prosecutor, would allow deducing that it would be the more complete process.”If she is sentenced in this case, the Argentinian newspaper La Nacion reckons, it could possibly impact a case called Hotesur y Los Sauces, which is now being reviewed by the Criminal Court of Appeal. Mrs. Kirchner and her children, Maximo and Florencia, are accused of receiving money from Mr. Baez and businessman Cristobal Lopez, who is also known for being close to the Kirchner family, in exchange for negotiations with the state that were facilitated by the president. Even though the prosecutor said he will ask for a sentence, according to Mr. Arias, it will be a difficult decision for the judges, as they’re dealing with a possible sentence for “the most important” political persona for many years in Argentina.

Corruption Trial Could Mark the Coda of Kirchner Family’s Power in Argentina

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