Lucia Salinas
10/07/2020 - 11:46
Clarín.com
Politics
After several requests made by the president of Chamber I of the Criminal Cassation Chamber regarding filmings or recordings of the testimonies of the 31 accused collaborators in the Cuadernos de las Coimas case, she confirmed something that had already been discussed during the instruction:
such supports do not exist
.
The Appeals Chamber had already validated the minutes signed by the repentant, their lawyers and the prosecution as the
"suitable means"
of registering them, as required by the Repentant Law.
But now the judges must resolve a request from Cristina Kirchner and other defendants, who
argued that this regulation "is unconstitutional.
"And as such the entire file must be annulled. Whatever the answer, it will also be partial: another chamber of the Cassation already admitted the constitutionality of the law in February.
After a year of the beginning of the instruction of the Cuadernos case, at the beginning of September 2019, the late judge Claudio Bonadio indicated in a resolution that
the contributions of the 31 repentants had been "substantial"
to confirm the existence of a "structure criminal "that was dedicated to the collection of" illegal funds. "
In these maneuvers, the main accused as head of the illicit association is the vice president.
In that text, he stated: "Having analyzed what was stated by each of the accused collaborators and the aspects of their testimonies that could be corroborated through the test carried out, we can affirm that
their testimonies made it possible to achieve significant progress in the investigation
carried out in the present case and its related ".
The eight famous notebooks of Roberto Baratta's driver, Oscar Centeno.
Thus, he considered that he had complied with the rule that establishes that within a year the magistrate must corroborate the statements of the "accused collaborators."
Had it been confirmed that some of their statements were not true, the defendants would have lost all benefits
and would have been arrested for aggravated false testimony.
Several of the defendants, among former officials and businessmen, appealed that measure.
However, Chamber I of the Buenos Aires Federal Chamber, made up of judges Leopoldo Bruglia and Pablo Bertuzzi -removed last month by Kirchnerism- rejected said complaints considering that they "are not subject to appeal."
On that occasion, the chambermaids argued in their resolution that Judge Bonadio "has complied" with the provisions of Law 27.304, "in terms of corroborating compliance with the obligations that the repentant defendants contracted within the framework of the collaboration agreement" that signed.
They confirmed by the judge of the case, "especially
the verisimilitude and usefulness, total or partial, of the information they have provided
."
With the case raised to oral trial and settled in the Federal Oral Court 7 (TOF 7) that has two members, since Germán Castelli was also removed by Kirchnerism, the defense of Cristina Kirchner and other defendants such as Julio De Vido and Gerardo Ferreyra insisted with the claim of unconstitutionality.
After a hearing was held before Chamber I of the Chamber of Cassation, they discussed the Repentant Law and its implementation.
For the vice president, this law is unconstitutional, and its application by the Carlos Stornelli prosecutor's office was incorrect
.
Consequently, he requested that the Cassation declare the regulation unconstitutional, and that as a next step it
consider null and void everything that was acted on in the file.
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Before ruling, the Chamber, chaired by Judge
Ana María Figueroa
and made up of
Daniel Petrone and Diego Barroetaveña
, asked Judge Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi - who subrogates the court of which Bonadio was the holder - to answer whether there are "filmic or digital records of the statements made by the repentant defendants within the framework of the collaboration agreement provided for in Law 27.304 ".
The discussion focused on
the "suitable means" that the law requires to support the safeguarding of testimonies.
In December 2018, the chambermaids Bruglia and Bertuzzi endorsed as suitable means the minutes signed by the repentant, their lawyers and by the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office, since it is done under oath and for incurring false testimony, the penalties are the benefits obtained in the collaboration agreement are aggravated and lost.
For the defenses
this is not enough to dismiss any possible coercion or direction in the testimonies
.
The Cassation has already obtained the answer: there are no film records, no recordings, or digital media.
Now the term has begun to run for it to decide whether the Repentant Law is unconstitutional or not.
If it determines that it is,
the cause would go into severe turbulence, and could even collapse.
The record of the notebooks has more than 220 bodies, 231 measurements made during the investigation, reports required to the AFIP, the ANAC, the RENAR, as well as other State agencies.
For the judge and the prosecutor who instructed her, it is the largest corruption investigation and that today awaits the start of the oral trial.
Cristina Kirchner is the main defendant along with 172 defendants
.
