The Federal Oral Court 2 (TOF 2) made public the foundations of the conviction against Cristina Kirchner and Lázaro Báez in the Highway case and assured -in a 1,600-page ruling- that what was judged and proven was "an act of
corruption state".
In the fundamentals, unanimously, judges Jorge Gorini, Andrés Basso and Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu indicated that
the intervention "of members of the highest levels of the National Executive Power,
of the National Directorate of Roads and of the General Administration of Provincial Roads of the Province of Santa Cruz, in collusion with a construction businessman dedicated to public works", referring to Báez.
In this regard, they added that the purpose was
"to ensure an economic benefit both for him and for the conjugal partnership made up of former presidents Néstor Carlos Kirchner and Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner."
The magistrates were very harsh with the Kirchners' relationship with Báez and maintained that they left controls aside because of the relationship they had.
"Instead of the relationship of distance and control that should have marked the link between the public and private dimensions, here we have seen a promiscuous and absolute confusion between both spheres."
According to the judges, the structure of the crimes was marked by all kinds of "spurious agreements between the interested parties" something that they found "typical of organized practices of state and business corruption and overtones of economic crimes", tending to "ensure the economic benefits" in favor of the Kirchners and Báez.
On December 6
, Cristina Kirchner became the first vice president in the exercise of power, with a conviction for corruption.
The TOF 2, made up of judges Jorge Gorini, Andrés Basso and Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu, found her responsible for the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State.
The damage caused was estimated at 80,000 million pesos.
The foundations of that sentence come now.
but at that time the magistrates had already advanced: "We are certain that, through the processing of 51 public bidding processes for the construction of road works on national and provincial routes in Santa Cruz, between the years 2003 and 2015, took place an extraordinary fraudulent maneuver that harmed the pecuniary interests of the national public administration”.
The road works tendered on Santa Cruz soil were "systematically awarded to a group of companies linked" to Báez, said the Court, adding that the formation of his holding and its economic growth was "exponential" and it was seen "directly associated with the assignment of public road works in the area of that jurisdiction”.
In other words, the magistrates indicated former National Highway officials as the provincial agency, "or
operated outside the public interest",
configuring, "behind an appearance of legality, a synchronized and univocal disposition of the state apparatus aimed at the consummation of the crime".
Based on these initial premises, the Tribunal announced the evidence and testimony based on which it reached that conclusion.
News in development
