An Argentine court on Tuesday sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and gave her a lifelong ban on holding public office after finding her guilty of embezzling close to $1 billion in public funds. However, the court rejected a second charge accusing Kirchner of running a criminal organisation, which would have raised her jail time to 12 years.
The sentence, administered by a three-judge panel, marks the first time a sitting Argentine VP has been criminally indicted. The court also convicted businessman Lázaro Báez, the owner of a construction firm that was the primary beneficiary of Kirchner’s scheme, to six years in prison. Báez is already serving a 12-year sentence for money laundering.
¿Lawfare? ¿Partido judicial? Mafia y Estado paralelo. https://t.co/5jDZk9oZJh
— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) December 6, 2022
The court said Kirchner and Báez engaged in an “extraordinarily fraudulent” scheme that harmed national interests and tried to “ensure and conceal an illegitimate benefit” through the scheme. Furthermore, it stated thmaat Kirchner violated her duties as a public official by working to secure “undue profit” and “abuse” her office.
Kirchner, who also served as President between 2007 and 2015, was implicated in a corruption scandal along with her husband Néstor Kirchner, who was coincidentally president (from 2003-2007) before his wife and died in 2010. Prosecutors accuse Kirchner of using her public position to direct 51 public work projects to Báez’s company and receiving kickbacks from Báez and his aides.
Prosecutors note that the conspiracy cost the government almost $1 billion.
However, Kirchner has rejected all charges and accused her opponents of persecuting her. Following the verdict, Kirchner told her supporters in a live stream that “the idea was always to convict me. Likening the judges to a “firing squad,” Kirchner described the proceeding against her as a form of “lawfare” and political warfare.”
“This sentencing […] is not one based on the laws of the constitution,” she stated, adding, “This is a parallel state, a judicial mafia.”
FLASH: In #Argentina, VP Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was sentenced to 6 years in jail and disqualified from holding public office in a high profile corruption case. Unsurprisingly, it was CFK's corrupt Peronist policies that tanked Argentina. https://t.co/2w3dJv7IzS
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) December 6, 2022
According to the Associated Press, Kirchner’s supporters have vowed to paralyse the country with nationwide protests. In fact, thousands gathered on Thursday near public institutions in Buenos Aires to express their solidarity with the VP.
Meanwhile, Argentine President Alberto Fernández tweeted that Kirchner is innocent and a victim of media stigmatisation. Moreover, he accused the judges who sentenced her of complacency and riding around in private jets and luxury mansions on weekends.
“Today I accompany and stand in solidarity with Kirchner knowing that she is the victim of an absolutely unfair persecution,” Fernández said.
“All good men and women who love democracy and the rule of law must stand by her side,” he added.
Kirchner, who survived an assassination attempt in September after prosecutors formalised charges against her, has been a highly influential political figure in Argentina. However, in recent years her popularity has declined, with a survey conducted last month showing that 62% of Argentinians want her removed from office.
Her opponents say that her government’s policies have ruined Argentina, which has witnessed one of the highest inflation rates in the world and is beset by rising poverty levels. Economists predict that inflation, which is already close to 70% and is the highest in 30 years, could touch 90% by the end of the year. In addition, 5.3 million Argentinians live in extreme poverty.
A Kirchner critic told the New York Times that Kirchner is a corrupt leader. “Everyone who got close to or was allied in some way to the inner circle of these people became rich in a very short time,” he said.
Kirchner has previously been investigated for allegedly conspiring with the Iranian government to obfuscate the role of Iranian officials in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, which resulted in 85 deaths.
Despite the verdict, it is unlikely that Kirchner will serve jail time due to the immunity she holds as a public official. She is also expected to launch an appeal against the judgement, a process that could take years and prevent officials from officially banning her from running for office again.
In fact, the 69-year-old has even hinted that she may contest next year’s election. Last month, she said he will “do whatever I have to do to ensure that our society can organise itself into a project for a country that recovers hope, strength and joy.”
However, after her sentencing this week, Kircher remarked, “In 2023 I will not be a candidate for anything, I will no longer have privileges.” The VP also claimed that she will step away from politics when the Fernández administration’s term ends, saying, “My name is not going to be on any ballot.”