Lucia Salinas
02/08/2021 13:45
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 02/08/2021 13:45
Baez's phone doesn't ring regularly.
They do not exchange messages.
A lawyer became an intermediary to inform the essential: "Lazaro is fine, he is in good health."
In Río Gallegos, three of his children await the reading of the sentence that according to judicial sources assured
Clarín
will be read on February 24
.
The Money Route K blew up the contractor's family nucleus:
two of his sons have another lawyer and they disbelieve the father's defense.
The eldest of the male children remains in prison, and his ex-wife awaits the decision to be made on the estate
to resume the division of assets.
"There is still an opportunity for
Lázaro to be sincere, to tell the truth
. I was confident that his statement would clarify everything, and I found that he said other things, which do not interest me," said Leandro, the youngest of the four children. of businessman K the last time he gave an interview.
His statements only corroborated what he said in front of Federal Oral Court 4 (TOF 4): that
all businesses were handled by his father.
That investigation not only pointed to Lázaro Báez as head of the money laundering operations for 60 million dollars, as the indictment maintains, but it also uncovered once again, something that marked the family of businessman K throughout the judicial process initiated in 2016 -
a fierce intern
that even led to the hiring of nearly a dozen lawyers.
This Wednesday the final words of seven defendants will be heard, and then the Court presided over by judge Néstor Costabel will read the sentence.
In courts they set that instance for February 24.
The oral trial began in October 2018, and
is the largest in the area of money laundering.
During the investigation as the stage of oral hearings, it was found that the Báez family does not have the same look at the file.
Since the case started by judge Sebastián Casanello and prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan, the four sons of businessman K and himself have appointed almost a dozen lawyers.
Many of the legal advisers found themselves faced with a repeated situation:
family inmates who made any legal strategy collide.
That confrontation is more current than ever.
At 3,000 kilometers, three of Báez's children remain.
Lázaro only maintains communication with Luciana, the oldest of all his children, while he continues under house arrest on a property loaned in Greater Buenos Aires.
With his youngest children -Melina and Leandro- communication is scarce.
In fact, he has not spoken with Leandro for many months.
The four heirs are prosecuted
for being participants in money laundering operations.
In three years and through Austral Construcciones -the flagship firm- 60 million dollars were laundered.
Part of that money was moved with accounts in Switzerland, and there Luciana, Martín, Melina and Leandro Báez enter the scene.
All are listed as beneficial owners of those accounts.
They claim to have had knowledge of these maneuvers that led them to the dock.
"Lázaro was the one who decided everything," the two minors told the Court.
Luciana chose not to testify at the trial, while Martín, who has been in prison for two years, reiterated his innocence.
While the youngest of the clan have Roberto Herrera (also a defender of Leonardo Fariña) as their lawyer, the older children of Lázaro are represented by Elisabeth Gassaro, denounced by the other part of the family: they distrust the administration of assets and
the fate of funds that Báez managed from prison.
With little dialogue and everyone attentive to the continuity or not of Martín's prison - whose detention was extended for another month - the Baez know that the financial complications will continue.
Justice detected
a fortune of 205 million dollars, distributed in 1,420 properties.
Everything is seized, and the 14 companies are intervened by justice.
Austral Construcciones, which was
able to win 51 road contracts with the State for 46,000 million pesos, went bankrupt.
In Río Gallegos, the Báez family had all their properties raided, their vehicles were seized, and according to what they said from the surroundings, they
even had a hard time finding work.
Part of the family group maintains that there is a political persecution behind the case, but in turn, they insist that Lázaro was the one who "made all the decisions and no one could tell him anything."
The situation had another component.
The former partner of Cristina Kirchner is in permanent custody at the address where he is being arrested, accompanied at times by his girlfriend.
She was intimidated by the lawyers of Norma Calismonte - Báez's ex-wife - because her family would be exploring some cabins in the south and
that money would not be being directed to the court accounts.
The assets are protected by the courts, but Norma Calismonte -divorced from Lázaro since November 2015-
seeks to guarantee "what is their due" for her four children
, as she reiterates whenever she can.
It is that that millionaire heritage became the focus of disputes.
Once the Court presided over by Judge Néstor Costabel and also made up of Judges Gabriela López Iñíguez and Adriana Pallioti, announce the verdict, there will be a determination on the patrimony that, according to the imputation, was acquired with illicit funds.
Calismonte's lawyers had already informed Lázaro that once that happens,
his ex-wife would move forward with the claim for the division of assets.
End of another cycle.
As
Clarín said
, the former wife of businessman K seeking to determine the total amount of the estate that she will claim when the oral trials conclude.
The woman maintains that there are people around her ex-husband who "use him."
