Defendant in corruption case, Cristina Kirchner speaks of collusion between prosecutor and judge

The vice president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, accused of collusion prosecutor and one of the judges in the case in which she is a defendant for corruption in the concession of public works when he was head of government.

The lawyer of the former president of the country (and current vice-president) presented a petition for the president of the Federal Oral Court 2 (TOF 2), Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu, and the prosecutor Diego Luciani to be removed from Cristina’s trial. The announcement was made this Monday (08), before the start of the fourth day of the Public Ministry’s allegations phase, by the vice president of the court, Jorge Gorini.

Cristina Kirchner is being prosecuted for crimes of illicit association and fraud to the detriment of public administration. The case involves alleged irregularities in the granting of 51 public works contracts in the province of Santa Cruz to companies belonging to businessman Lázaro Báez during the governments of Cristina’s late husband and also former Argentine president, Néstor Kirchner, and the former president herself.

Last week, the prosecution began presenting the allegations in videoconference sessions. Luciani said that the Public Ministry “proved” that between 2003 and 2015 there was “an illicit association of unique characteristics” and in a “pyramidal” form that had “at its top those who served as heads of state” and involved the son of the former presidents, Maximo Kirchner.

Complaint against judge and prosecutor

Cristina Kirchner had anticipated yesterday that she would ask for the removal of the judge and the prosecutor by posting a message on Twitter in which she said that “Argentine justice stinks”.

As a basis for the request, the vice president used photos published by the newspaper “Página/12” that, according to her, prove that “the illicit association” is that of the president of the court and the prosecutor in the case for “playing football at the house of field” of former president Mauricio Macri, Cristina’s main political opponent.

The vice president insinuates that the brother-in-law of one of the possible presidential candidates for 2023 for the Juntos pela Change coalition, led by the former president himself, plays football with the jurists denounced by her.