Alejandro Alfie
03/05/2020 - 15:03
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Two days after the sentence was known, federal judge Ariel Lijo issued the 137-page ruling, which raises the reasons for which Martín Sabbatella was sentenced to six months in prison and disqualification for a year to be a public official.
The current head of the agency that manages the Matanza Riachuelo Basin (ACUMAR) was considered "author criminally responsible for the crime of abuse of authority" , due to irregularities and pressures in the application of the audiovisual media law against the Clarín Group , in its management of front of the Federal Audiovisual Communication Services Authority (AFSCA) during the government of Cristina Kirchner.
Judge Lijo argued in his ruling that Sabbatella acted against the Clarín Group in an "arbitrary" and "remote from the principles of impartiality", when he terminated the "voluntary adaptation" plan to the media law and established an "adequacy ex officio ", in which the official body was going to establish what means it should sell, to whom and at what price.
"In the absence of elements that provide reasonableness to act in question, it can only be concluded that their conduct is in violation of the implicit constitutional principle previously referred to as a prohibition of arbitrariness, and it is worth remembering, it is the prohibition that public officials have to issue orders that they are contrary to positive laws, to reason and to justice, "Judge Lijo said in his ruling, on the grounds of his ruling against Sabbatella.
"The official adaptation to the Clarín Group is based on political or ideological issues, separated from the guiding principles in the field of Public Administration," said Lijo. He added that "the abrupt change of the file, with the speedy procedure granted in just two days - after eleven months of a voluntary process - where different areas intervened on the same day and even where the Board of Directors vote was taken on tables , denote - together with the press conference prior to the vote - that the decision of the agency was linked to political issues of the Government of the day for the sole reason of being the Clarín Group as the administered ".
Judge Lijo said that "what is involved is to guarantee the validity of the Rule of Law and its scope, and how the National State must act with respect to an individual, it is who it is." In fact, the magistrate pointed out that the other administrative files of the remaining media groups reviewed had a different procedure, which in no case showed this level of "arbitrariness" and "lack of impartiality."
"In this trial, his political affiliation is not questioned at any point of view. Precisely, what is being criticized is that his performance was tinged with arbitrariness by noting that he failed to separate his interests or political beliefs from the functions inherent to the position This circumstance suggests an unequal treatment because of who the administrator was, "said Lijo . And he gave as examples the plans of adaptation to the media law of Telefe, DirecTV, Prisa and Grupo Indalo, among others, which AFSCA resolved.
In that sense, the magistrate assured that "Sabbatella's" animosity "against the Clarín Group " was based on his political and ideological position, aligned with the National Government; thus contradicting the standards of independence and impartiality that should prevail in his conduct, as an official of the National Public Administration and who had already been highlighted by the High Court in the ruling that declared the constitutionality of the law. "
It is that in that ruling, as Judge Lijo recalls, the Supreme Court had established that it was "vitally important" that the agency responsible for applying the media law should be "a technical and independent body, protected against undue interference, both government and other pressure groups (...) It must respect equal treatment, both in the adjudication and in the revocation of licenses, not discriminate on the basis of dissenting opinions. "
For all these reasons, Judge Lijo sentenced Sabbatella to six months in prison and disqualification for one year to hold public charges, which remain on hold until the sentence is signed. The sentence was handed down by a sole proprietorship court, because it is a crime that provided for a sentence not exceeding three years in prison.
In addition to this conviction, Sabbatella is also prosecuted for fraudulent administration to the detriment of the public administration, for the granting of irregular subsidies when he was in charge of AFSCA. In that case, he was prosecuted by Judge Luis Rodríguez, a measure that was unanimously confirmed by cameramen Leopoldo Bruglia, Mariano Llorens and Pablo Bertuzzi, who locked him with a $ 11.5 million embargo on his property.
Judge Lijo's decision against Sabbatella is in line with the sentences already received by other former Kirchner officials, who were also part of a harassment plan from the State against the Clarín Group , when the president was Cristina Kirchner. This is the former Secretary of Commerce, Guillermo Moreno, and the former Secretary of Communications, Lisandro Salas.
Moreno was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, plus perpetual disqualification to practice as a public official and the obligation to return the stolen sums, for using public funds to buy anti- Clarín cotillion.
While, in another trial, Salas received a sentence of six months in prison and disqualification for one year to hold public office, for "abuse of authority", by irregularly removing the license to Fibertel, of Cablevisión, when he was of the Group Clarin
Both sentences to Moreno and Salas were ratified last year by the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber.