Lucia Salinas
07/09/2020 - 16:12
Clarín.com
Politics
After four and a half years in the Ezeiza prison,
Lázaro Báez obtained house arrest
.
It was after asking the Court of Cassation for the reduction of his prison, stating that he could not meet the bond of 386 million pesos that the Federal Oral Court 4 (TOF 4) had set for him, which is judging him for money laundering.
Chamber IV of the highest criminal court decided to grant him the benefit of arrest in one of his homes, something that had already been granted in March of this year in one of the files where he was prosecuted for money laundering.
With a house arrest granted by the Cassation and a release issued but with a millionaire guarantee to be effective, it was the Federal Oral Court 4 (TOF 4) -responsible for trying businessman K-, which settled the situation.
His judges ruled that Báez continue to serve the
arrest at his home, monitored by an electronic anklet.
The owner of Grupo Austral obtained his release two months ago in one of the causes related to the Ruta del Dinero K, but a first bond of 632.5 million pesos had been set for him.
After the defense claim and an order from the Chamber of Cassation, it remained at 368 million pesos.
Still, Báez's attorneys maintained that he had no funds to meet that bond.
Then they required that, as the prosecutor of the trial Abel Córdoba had suggested, the house arrest issued in March of this year in the framework of the health emergency due to the coronavirus be complied with.
Said moderation was issued in another case, where he was accused of money laundering for the purchase of the El Entrevero field, an operation for US $ 14 million.
Lázaro Báez's situation became particularly particular: in the "mother" case (Ruta del Dinero K) he had been released from prison, in El Entrevero he had been granted a house arrest and in another related case known as M&P - a signature used as financial cave-, was until this Monday with preventive detention.
On the other hand, in this case, two prosecutors had requested to grant the easing of his arrest, and with the terms of preventive detention exceeded, it was also indicated that he still does not have a sentence in the trial that began in October 2018.
Against this backdrop, Chamber IV of the Cassation, made up of judges Mariano Borinsky and Javier Carbajo, resolved to revoke the TOF 4 resolution and grant Lázaro Báez house arrest.
To obtain his release, he will have to pay the bail set, but they endorsed the easing of his preventive detention: businessman K will leave the Ezeiza prison.
Báez had established one of his 1,214 properties as domicile.
It is a house in a private neighborhood of Pilar, registered in the name of Badial SA -one of its companies investigated for money laundering-.
The house with a heated pool is valued at about $ 500,000.
The Cassation also took into account the report of the Directorate of Assistance for People under Electronic Surveillance dependent on the Ministry of Justice of the Nation, which ruled favorably regarding the “conditions proposed by Lázaro Báez for their residence and the accompaniment of the person offered as guarantor ”.
On the other hand, a medical report prepared by the specialized personnel of the Federal Penitentiary Service was weighed, in which it explains that, due to Báez's pathologies and his refusal to carry out cardiovascular controls,
it cannot be assured that the contractor does not contract coronavirus.
The socio-environmental study carried out on July 22, 2020, was another element that weighed on the decision, according to which "the psychosocial conditions are given for Báez to enter the Directorate of Assistance for People Under Electronic Surveillance."
The trials against Báez
Although entrepreneur K has a wealth - according to the National Appraisal Court (TTN) - of US $ 205 million, it is seized in at least seven cases in Comodoro Py.
In most of them, it
is processed for money laundering.
Therefore, since all his assets were protected and his companies intervened, he could not use them to pay a bond.
Cristina Kirchner's former business partner entered prison in April 2016, and
to date faces two oral trials.
The first, by the Route of Money K, where the complaints and the prosecutor requested
penalties ranging from eight to twelve years,
and now the defenses are in the pleadings stage.
On the other hand, since May 2019 he has shared with the vice president the oral debate on
the alleged directing of public works
, by the Kirchner government, in favor of his business group: 51 bids for $ 46,000 million.