Argentina Affirms Corruption Conviction and $85 Million Fine Against Its Most Powerful Socialist

A federal appeals court in Argentina ruled on Wednesday to uphold the guilty verdict against socialist former President and former Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on charges of corruption.

Fernández de Kirchner served as President of Argentina for two terms, from 2007 to 2015, succeeding her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, who served as President between 2003 and 2007. Fernández de Kirchner also served as vice president during the administration of socialist former President Alberto Fernández (no relation) between 2019 and 2023.

Last week, the leftist Justicialist Party appointed her the president of the party, replacing Alberto Fernández, who resigned in August amidst an ongoing probe regarding domestic violence accusations.

Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty in 2022 of conspiring alongside Argentine businessman and close friend Lázaro Báez and several others of defrauding the Argentine state of upwards of $1 billion through dozens of dubious public works contracts throughout her presidency. The case is commonly referred to in Argentina as Causa Vialidad (“Road Case”).

At the time, the courts sentenced Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and imposed a lifetime ban on her holding public office. The original sentence was issued at a time when Fernández de Kirchner served as both vice president and head of the Argentine Senate, which granted her immunity from the ruling. The socialist former president immediately began a lengthy appeal process against the ruling.

On Wednesday, Argentine Judges Gustavo Hornos, Mariano Borinsky, and Diego Barroetaveña of the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Cassation (or Court of Appeals) rejected the appeal and confirmed the original sentence. The judges also dismissed appeals introduced by the prosecution against other related charges she was acquitted of in the original 2022 sentence.

The appeals court also ruled that Fernández de Kirchner will have to pay over 84.8 billion pesos (roughly $84.89 million) in damages once the ruling is final, an amount that is subject to updates in the future.

Although Fernández de Kirchner no longer has immunity, she is not expected to serve any jail time and would still be eligible to run in next year’s legislative elections, as she can appeal the case at the Argentine Supreme Court, the court of last resort. Argentine law also states that anyone over the age of 70 can serve a prison sentence under house arrest instead. Fernández de Kirchner turned 71 in February.

Lawmakers from the ruling Liberty Advances (LLA) party, together with legislators from Republican Proposal (PRO) and Radical Civic Union (UCR), have introduced a “clean record” bill in Congress that, if passed, would prohibit convicted individuals with affirmed sentences on appeal from running for public office — which would prevent a prospective Fernández de Kirchner candidacy in next year’s legislative elections.

Fernández de Kirchner condemned the appeals court ruling on Wednesday afternoon while attending a rally with some of her sympathizers, claiming that she is being punished for “everything I did and because I am a woman.”

“When you are a woman, everything is made twenty times more difficult for you,” Fernández de Kirchner said. “They cannot stand arguing with a woman and not being right.”

“Did you see that when one is right and the other argues, there is a fight? Since they can’t give me a fight, they do things like what they did today in Comodoro Py [the location of the appeals court],” she continued.

President of Argentina Javier Milei celebrated the ruling on social media, stating that he remembers when, during the 2023 presidential campaign, he was criticized for not “issuing a statement on the guilt of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.”

“Well, today (during this government) the Argentine Justice confirmed the conviction and perpetual disqualification to hold public office of the former president,” Milei’s message read. “Today we can state without any doubt that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is guilty of acts of corruption.”

On Thursday morning, the Argentine government announced that President Milei rescinded both Fernández de Kirchner’s privileged retirement pension and a presidential pension she received as the widow of the late President Néstor Kirchner. 

Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni explained that the privileged pension is an allowance that is not contributory in nature and is awarded as a “compensation for honor, merit and good performance in office.”

“Mrs. Cristina Kirchner was convicted by the Criminal Cassation Chamber in the Road Case as the author of the crime of fraudulent administration, which is why she represents the opposite of honor, merit, and good performance,” Adorni said, adding that this will represent a savings of about 21.8 million pesos (roughly $21,800) for the Argentine public.

Adorni asserted that retirement pensions for former presidents are a privilege that should not exist in Argentina, “even moreso if the person receiving it is convicted of defrauding millions of Argentines from the highest spheres of power who saw their hopes disappear at the hands of politics.”

“This is nothing more and nothing less than granting a cloak of common sense and sanity to public management. During President Milei’s term, Argentina will not allocate funds to any person who is convicted of corruption and who has further tarnished the honor and dignity of Argentines,” Adorni said.

President Milei, currently in the United States and expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump soon, mentioned the case in a statement on social media roughly translating to “do the crime, pay the time.”

“Hello everyone!” Milei wrote in another post that he accompanied with a link to the Argentine outlet Infobae reporting on the government revoking Fernández de Kirchner’s pension.

Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello confirmed on Thursday that Fernández de Kirchner will lose the pension. The Ministry published an official statement on social media explaining that the decision was not made as an “accessory sanction to the criminal sentence,” but rather as a consequence of the “unworthiness that comes with having been considered criminally responsible for the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the public administration.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here