La Ruta del Dinero K: Lázaro Báez gave up his last words in the laundering lawsuit

Lucia Salinas

02/03/2021 14:07

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 02/03/2021 14:36

La Ruta del Dinero K, the case that brought Lázaro Báez, Cristina Kirchner's former business partner, to the dock for the first time, reached its final instance:

only the sentence remains, which will be heard next Wednesday, February 10

.

Contractor K is accused of having commanded

an organization laundered $ 60 million.

The case closely touches the vice president, as it was argued that the crime preceding these maneuvers was the case of alleged corruption in public works.

"

I am a victim of an atrocious campaign

. This campaign included the

imprisonment of politicians and businessmen without evidence or motives

. They invented causes over causes, every day a new one.

I was a victim of the services to accuse Cristina Kirchner, but they could not bend me

" said Lázaro Báez when he testified at the trial.

It was the only time he expressed anything about the main cause that falls on him.

In charge of the Oral Federal Court 4 (TOF 4), this Wednesday the last hearing was held with the final words of the accused.

First it was the turn of

Martín Báez

-the eldest of the oldest sons of businessman K- who pointed out:

"I did not commit any crime, but my life has been destroyed and I am already socially condemned

.

" In

prison since February 2019, Martín has been processed as a co-author of washing operations, being the most complicated of the four brothers.

In another section of his last words, Martín Báez said: "I am an honest person, I am good people, with my life shattered. I am not a mobster or a criminal.

I am an ordinary person who worked in his parents

' company." And he concluded with a request already formulated during his inquiry:

"I beg you to apply the law and absolve me

.

"

Later, the former accountant of Lázaro, Daniel Pérez Gadín, spoke, who defended

Austral Construcciones

, and described it as

a "great family business

.

"

He thus supported all the work done denying any wrongdoing.

Pérez Gadín -who is under house arrest- is indicated as responsible for movements of millionaire sums abroad, as part of the money laundering operations.

Figure with authorizing signature on

accounts opened in Switzerland and in tax havens.

In this case, Judge Sebastián Casanello prosecuted Báez, his four children and 21 other defendants for having set up a structure of "companies and bank accounts abroad that allowed the laundering of at least some sixty million dollars."

For these operations, firms such as Austral Construcciones (winner of 51 road contracts for 46,000 million pesos), the financial firm SGI and the Helvetic company, among the main ones, were used.

Lázaro Báez, who is also being investigated by Judge Casanello to determine if his estate -which exceeds 205 million dollars- is the product of having acted as a

possible figurehead for the Kirchner family

, further stated that they "turned" his name "into a colloquial synonym of the word figurehead, without a single conviction to prove that it was ".

However, the former Santa Cruz bank did not give details on how he managed to acquire

1,400 properties

valued at 205 million dollars, when in 2013 he had only declared assets for 66 million pesos before the AFIP.

His story is closely linked to that of the Kirchners.

Owner of Austral Construcciones, he landed in the field of public works in May 2003, only 12 days before Néstor Kirchner assumed the Presidency of the Nation.

Previously, he had served as a credit line manager at Banco Santa Cruz.

Justice did not inquire about the friendship between Lázaro and Néstor, but about their business: it investigated

15 real estate purchase and sale operations, hotel management and rental,

construction of properties for the Kirchner real estate company, trusts, a condominium land and the expansion of a hotel on Austral land.

The Route of Money K was linked to the cause of the alleged fraud against the State due to the

irregular assignment of public works to Báez

during the Kirchner government.

In that file, in charge of TOF 2, Cristina Kirchner and the owner of Grupo Austral are being tried for illicit association.

In the trial for the Route, the irregularities with these works were considered as a

crime preceding the money laundering operations:

without this handling of funds, businessman K could not organize the subsequent money laundering.

The case judged by the Federal Oral Court 4, presided over by Judge Néstor Costabel together with judges Gabriela López Íñiguez and Adriana Pallioti, is going through its final instance.

Concluded this Wednesday the meeting of the final words, it is estimated that everything will conclude next Wednesday, when after hearing the last seven defendants, the magistrates will read the sentence.

During the allegations stage, the complaints of the Financial Information Unit (UIF), the AFIP and the Anti-Corruption Office (OA) requested sentences for the businessman:

nine years, eight and eight and a half years, respectively

.

All argued that part of the money that Báez received for the public works went to money laundering operations.

The maximum penalty so far is that required by the prosecutor.

Thus, the first trial that Lázaro Báez faced is nearing its final instance

after two years from its beginning.

The owner of Grupo Austral, arrested by order of Judge Casanello in April 2016, is under house arrest at a reserved address.

In that property located in Greater Buenos Aires, he is monitored with an electronic anklet and has 24-hour police custody.