Lucia Salinas
02/24/2021 1:50 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 02/24/2021 4:41 PM
Cristina Kirchner's former business partner, Lázaro Báez, was sentenced
-by majority vote- to 12 years in prison for the crime of money laundering
in the case known as the Money Route K. The verdict was in charge of the Federal Oral Court 4 (TOF 4) and the contractor was accused of having laundered 60 million dollars between 2010 and 2013. For that reason, he will
have to pay a fine of 480 million dollars.
The indictment maintains that the money used for money laundering came from
public road works and tax crimes, as a preceding crime.
This proposal had the endorsement of two of the TOF magistrates: Néstor Costabel and Adriana Pallioti, while Gabriela López Íñiguez spoke out in dissent.
Not exempt from the accusations were the four sons of businessman K.
The case that with a majority vote was linked to the public road work where Cristina Kirchner is tried -as it was considered the preceding crime-, involved a significant sum of money: it led the judges to order the
seizure for 61 million euros. dollars and 4.7 million pesos.
The reading of the verdict began at 1:30 p.m. in a virtual hearing.
There, for more than an hour, the sentence was announced in what is considered
the largest trial on money laundering carried out in Comodoro Py
.
Most of the accusatory sentences responded to
the
maximum penalty corresponding to the crime of money laundering.
After granting the maximum sentence to Lázaro Báez (12 years) as requested by the prosecutor in the Abel Córdoba trial, TOF 4 continued reading and TOF 4 referred to the heirs of Cristina Kirchner's former business partner.
He was sentenced to
Martin Baez and sentenced to
nine years;
to
Leandro
, as part of the organization that was dedicated to maneuvers laundering, he was awarded a sentence of
five years,
and the slightest and suspense charge was for the daughters of the entrepreneur:
Melina and Luciana were sentenced to three years.
Regarding the only accused collaborator in the case, Leonardo Fariña, the Court sentenced him to
five years
, with a reduction of three years for his collaboration as repentant, and considering that his contributions were necessary for the clarification of the case.
From the surroundings of Báez, his former accountant
Daniel Pérez Gadín
was sentenced
as the organizer of the money laundering maneuvers, to a sentence of eight years, the same as the lawyer
Jorge Chueco.
Meanwhile,
Fabián Rossi,
identified as a necessary participant, was sentenced to
five years.
As for the financier
Federico Elaskar
, he was awarded a sentence of
four and a half years.
The penalties applied, in all cases, respond to the highest in the scale of the crime of money laundering.
Báez's fortune, which amounts to
205 million dollars
, was a central axis in the case, since it was considered that the compulsive purchase of
1,420 goods
was the product of an illicit act.
The Court also ruled on that wealth: it ordered the
confiscation of a lump sum of 61 million dollars,
as well as
4.7 million pesos
.
But in addition, he has to pay a fine of
480 million dollars, which far exceeds his fortune.
As regards its flagship firm, Austral Construcciones, a fine corresponding to twice the amount of the operations in which it intervened was applied.
The company,
in the process of bankruptcy
since it did not receive more contracts when Cristina Kirchner left the Casa Rosada, was the cornerstone of the maneuvers where
60 million dollars were laundered.
The main accusation against the owner of the Austral Group was that of organizing a "
band dedicated to laundering money between 2010 and 2013 aggravated by habitual
behavior."
Verdict TOF 4 trial the route of money K to Lazaro Baéz and children Néstor Costabel
As established during the investigation of the case, by
prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan and judge Sebastián Casanello
, TOF 4 took into account the "hoarding of funds in Switzerland" by Báez, and the re-entry of a portion of the money to the country through Austral Construcciones.
In this file that began in 2013, Báez, his four children and 22 other defendants were prosecuted for having set up a structure of "
companies and bank accounts abroad
that allowed the laundering of at least about sixty million dollars."
For these operations, firms such as
Austral Construcciones
(winner of 51 road contracts for 46,000 million pesos),
the financial SGI, the Helvetic company
among the main ones.
As money laundering causes require a preceding crime, 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.
This point was recognized by the judges Néstor Costabel and Adriana Pallioti.
Meanwhile, Judge Gabriela López Íñiguez considered that "she does not see the possibility of considering that all the assets of Báez or ACSA were illegal" and affirmed that "there was a coexistence between legal activities with the commission of illegal activities."
The case of public works, in charge of TOF 2, judges Cristina Kirchner and the owner of Grupo Austral for illicit association.
In the trial for the Route, the irregularities with those 51 contracts for $ 46,000 million, were considered as
a precedent crime of money laundering operations
: without this handling of funds, businessman K could not have organized the subsequent money laundering.
In addition, the
apocryphal billing unit
used by Lázaro Báez for more than $ 55 million
was taken as a preceding offense
.
Thus, with a majority vote, tax crimes such as public works were considered
the origin of the money that businessman K turned over to money laundering.
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.
Everyone
they held 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.
The defense of businessman K was in tune with Cristina Kirchner's speech:
lawfare
, political persecution by the government of Mauricio Macri.
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.
The sentence was read by Zoom.
In the red box Martín Báez and Leonardo Fariña.
That of Báez is a story that is
always
written
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.
The Justice did not inquire about the friendship between Lázaro and Néstor, but
in their businesses: it
investigated 15 operations for the sale of real estate, administration and rental of hotels, construction of properties for the Kirchner real estate, trusts, a condominium land and the expansion of a hotel on Austral land.
Lázaro Báez has been under house arrest since the end of last year, and with preventive detention since April 2016.
With the entry into force of a set of articles of the new Criminal Procedure Code, the sentence will not be considered final until the Supreme Court of Justice is pronounced.
Look also
Sales, rentals, loans and millionaire businesses: the deep commercial ties between Cristina Kirchner and Lázaro Báez
Route of Money K: TOF 4 applied a record fine of 4,354 million dollars to those convicted
