The Court of Cassation rejected the latest appeals and upheld the asset execution in the Vialidad case.
Judges Hornos and Barroetaveña stated that the defenses limited themselves to expressing disagreements with the decisions already made by the lower courts and emphasized that the seizure constitutes a fundamental tool to prevent the benefits obtained through corruption crimes from remaining in the assets of those responsible.
The resolution also reaffirmed a central criterion for the advancement of the seizure: only assets acquired during the period in which the investigated scheme took place, that is, between 2003 and 2015, may be affected. Under that parameter, the Justice system identified properties acquired by Néstor Kirchner during those years and subsequently inherited by his children.
Although Cristina Kirchner and her children can still file a complaint with the Supreme Court, judicial sources indicated that this instance does not have a suspensive effect. Therefore, the asset execution will continue to advance while the highest court eventually analyzes the arguments of the Kirchner family.
The decision represents one of the most important steps in the execution phase of the corruption sentence in the Vialidad case and brings the Justice system closer to the goal of recovering part of the funds linked to one of the largest corruption cases in recent Argentine history.
The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation rejected the latest appeals filed by Cristina Kirchner, Máximo Kirchner, Florencia Kirchner, and the frontman Lázaro Báez, upholding the execution of assets ordered in the context of the Vialidad case. The decision represents a new judicial setback for the former president and enables the Justice system to proceed with properties linked to the Kirchner family in an attempt to recover part of the money corresponding to the damage caused to the State.
The resolution was adopted by Chamber IV of the Cassation Court, composed of judges Gustavo Hornos, Mariano Borinsky, and Diego Barroetaveña. The court concluded that the defenses' arguments did not present sufficient federal issues to justify an extraordinary intervention by the Supreme Court and confirmed the criteria applied by Federal Oral Court No. 2, responsible for executing the sentence.
The seizure is linked to the sentence issued in the Vialidad case, where the existence of a corruption scheme related to the awarding of public works in Santa Cruz between 2003 and 2015 was established. After updating the amount of economic damage caused to the State, the Justice system set a sum of 685 billion pesos that the convicted individuals must respond to jointly with their respective assets.
In this first stage, the execution covers 111 movable and immovable assets. Of that total, 80 belong to Lázaro Báez, while another 20 are linked to Cristina Kirchner and her children, Máximo and Florencia. Among the properties affected are the Los Sauces Casa Patagónica hotel, apartments located in the city of Río Gallegos, and various lands in El Calafate.
