In September 2019, the late judge Claudio Bonadio sent Cristina Kirchner
and fifty businessmen together with former officials
to trial , accused of participating in
a bribery structure that operated from the State.
Since then, the Federal Oral Court 7 (TOF 7) carries out the so-called "complementary instruction" and seeks to set a date for the start of the public debate.
Within the framework of these procedures, the vice president requested a long list of new evidence: an expert opinion on the notebooks that gave rise to the case, José López's cell phone, and the incoming and outgoing calls from both Bonadio and prosecutor Carlos Stornelli
.
The TOF 7 is responsible for carrying out the trial of the case that in the investigation stage was described as the largest corruption structure of the last twenty years.
Recently, its magistrates requested more resources from the Supreme Court to speed up the start of the oral and public debate.
Simultaneously, judges
Enrique Méndez Signori, Fernando Canero and Germán Castelli
are analyzing the offer of evidence made by all the defendants and by the prosecution in charge of
Fabiana León.
That instance has already concluded and now the Court must inform
what previous measures it accepts and promotes
so that they are carried out before starting the oral trial, as well as
which witnesses
of all those suggested by the parties will be summoned for the debate.
The elevation to trial of the scandal that broke out in August 2018 maintains that the file investigated
"the main criminal organization" of the last decades
, dedicated to the "collection of illegal funds" that in some cases turned to "laundering
operations of money
in the country and abroad.
At the discretion of the investigating judge, that main accusation became the skeleton of
six more files
, in which it was sought to analyze area by area in which the Ministry of Planning granted contracts and concessions.
Thus, cases were opened for bribery in the importation of liquefied gas, in the concession of tolls, the granting of subsidies to bus and train companies, the cartelization of public works and money laundering operations abroad attributed to the Kirchner's former private secretary, Daniel Muñoz.
All these investigations are related to the main file of the case, in which the vice president is prosecuted as
head of the illegal association that systematically collected bribes.
This accusation was replicated in the files derived from the case, but the Buenos Aires Federal Chamber reduced the prosecutions against Cristina by half for not finding her directly related to all those alleged illegal circuits.
When requesting evidence, the vice attorney,
Carlos Beraldi,
required a series of expert opinions that, if accepted, will
further delay the start of the trial.
As
Clarín
was able to learn from judicial sources, Cristina Kirchner requested an
expert opinion on the notebooks written by Oscar Centeno,
Roberto Baratta
's former driver
and which gave rise to the investigation.
It must be remembered that in another case under investigation by federal judge
Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi
, an expertise was ordered by the Scientific Police Superintendence, where they confirmed that
the manuscripts did indeed belong to Centeno.
However, they stated that in some sections -linked to the businessman
Armando Loson-
there are a series of
alterations.
Beraldi also recommended that the Court request documentation from the corresponding public bodies regarding the tenders in which the accused businessmen participated.
On the other hand, the vice lawyer asked
that the cell phone of José López
, the former Secretary of Public Works who accepted the law of the accused collaborator in this file, be examined, that is to say:
he is one of the 31 repentant
with whom count the cause.
The former Secretary of Public Works
implicated Cristina Kirchner in his confession
in the circuit of bribes paid by construction businessmen.
He maintained, among other things, that
the vice-president was aware of the system
that had been operating - the court maintains - since 2003 and that it
was she who indicated which contractors should be prioritized
when releasing payments.
The former president requested that
Oscar Centeno's cell phone also be examined
.
In this list of expert reports, she included the incoming and outgoing calls of the prosecutor Carlos Stornelli and the late judge Claudio Bonadio,
the magistrates who investigated her.
Among the battery of measures proposed by the vice defense is
a consultation with the College of Notaries
on actions related to the different repentants.
On November 30, 2020, Chamber I of the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber (with the dissent of
Ana María Figueroa
)
endorsed the Law of Repentance
questioned by Kirchnerism.
This supported the procedure under which the statements of the accused collaborators were taken.
Before the elevation to oral trial, Bonadio had corroborated the statements of the repentant who decided to collaborate with justice.
"We can affirm that their testimonies made it possible to achieve significant progress in the investigation carried out in this case and its related ones," the magistrate had pointed out. the use of the Law of the Repentant was correct, that
the testimonies were corroborated and that their contributions contributed to the case.
Cristina continues to question the use of the regulations approved in 2016, its constitutionality and how it was implemented in the Cuadernos case.
For this reason, she requested that the opinion of the College of Notaries be requested to determine the veracity of the prosecution's actions when signing the collaboration agreements that were later approved by the court.
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