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Lázaro Báez awaits a wink from Justice to accelerate his release from prison

2020-07-13T16:06:48.428Z


He has already received his release, but the Court has to accept a surety bond to be effective. However, he is not guaranteed to be released this Monday.


Lucia Salinas

07/12/2020 - 18:43

  • Clarín.com
  • Politics

After four years and three months in prison, Lázaro Báez counts the hours to get out of prison. He was released from federal justice, but he still needs to post bail to achieve freedom. His is a complex situation: he has three records for money laundering, with different statuses regarding his freedom. In addition, businessman K is being prosecuted and is being tried for having laundered US $ 60 million for three years. Last Friday the Federal Oral Court 4 (TOF 4) by order of the Cassation Chamber, signed his release with a bond of $ 632 million,But the defense argued that it cannot meet that amount and this Monday the situation will be evaluated: surety bond may be the most viable option and the defense is thinking of. The businessman K hopes that the Justice will give him a wink and that with that insurance, he can get out of Ezeiza

The owner of the Austral Group will wait in the Ezeiza Prison until TOF 4 resolves what he will do with the amount set as a real bond.   Although he hopes that Justice will give him a wink and accept the insurance that his defense will present. Their lawyers -Elizabeth Gassaro and Juan Martín Villanueva-, already stated through a document that the $ 632,500,000 set was a sum "exorbitant and impossible to fulfill, precisely, based on the multiple embargoes and inhibitions imposed in various cases" .

Lázaro Báez is processed and sent to oral trial in seven files, in six of which he has the same accusation: money laundering. Another number, of that research universe two are shared with Cristina Kirchner.

In all these cases, businessman K is seized in more than US $ 700 million, to which must be added the oral judgment that he shares with the former president for the alleged corruption in public works: 51 road contracts for $ 46,000 million that the Austral Group received "plagued by irregularities and surcharges", verses the accusation. There, the precautionary measure amounts to $ 10 billion.

For these reasons, the defense argued that Lázaro Báez does not have the funds to meet the real bond suggested by the prosecutor before the Abel Córdoba Court and that the judges set as a condition for him to leave the Ezeiza Prison. A number of his fortune was placed in the judicial course facing the owner of Austral Construcciones. According to the National Appraisal Court (TTN), its 1,412 properties, cars and machinery were assigned a value of US $ 205 million.

As all your assets are seized, they cannot be used to face a surety. For this reason, the lawyers demanded that a bond be set that is not "impossible for the accused to fulfill" and added, "taking into account his personal situation, the characteristics of the attributed fact and his moral personality." The option being analyzed is the possibility of a surety bond, which must be contracted by the defense as a guarantee of Báez's behavior. Another alternative is to reduce the amount of money required, but it was set by the prosecutor and seems difficult to modify. 

The TOF 4, made up of judges Néstor Costabell, Jorge Gorini and Daniel Obligado, can, in any case, keep firm the decision ordering the payment of $ 632 million to leave the Ezeiza prison, if so, the defense will appeal and everything will be in the hands of the Cassation Chamber.

But the exit is not the only problem that Báez is dragging. It remains to be defined where he will serve his release. The lawyers gave the businessman a home in the private Ayres del Pilar neighborhood, but after complaints from neighbors they evaluated a new home. They do not want to reveal where it would be for fear of further protests. In Ayres del Pilar Báez you owe 1,000,000 pesos in expenses.

The debate once again put on the scene the large patrimony of Báez that is being guarded and also, in another file investigated together with Cristina Kirchner, to determine if those thousands of compulsively acquired assets, were in a personal capacity or if he proceeded as figurehead of former presidents.

For Justice, the wealth of businessman K that includes the house in the private neighborhood of Pilar, valued at U $ S 450,000 and where he seeks to carry out house arrest, is only explained in light of his commercial ties with Néstor and Cristina Kirchner. With them, he signed fifteen real estate operations that allowed the former presidents "to make money for US $ 5 million to buy the Alto Calafate hotel." Months before, Báez created Valle Miter SRL exclusively destined to manage the Kirchner hotels, guaranteeing revenues of $ 38 million.

There was more. With Cristina Kirchner, she had a land in El Calafate in a condominium valued at $ 17,400,000, which she swapped for the vice president to expand her boutique hotel on Austral Construcciones land. In addition, she built buildings for Los Sauces SA, the real estate company in which, together with Cristóbal López, they became the main tenants: 86% of turnover.

All these businesses passed, while Lázaro Báez received public road works contracts. According to the cause of the Ruta del Dinero K, it was what enabled its assets to increase by 12,127%, while Austral Construcciones grew by 45,313%. Thus, it could acquire 1,412 properties for US $ 205 million. 

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2020-07-13

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