Argentine Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Sentenced to Six Years in Prison in $1bn Fraud Case

Background

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, former Argentine President (2007-2015) and current Vice-President, was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifelong ban from holding public office for fraud in a $1bn public works scandal.

The verdict was delivered by a three-judge panel in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, 15 February 2022.
Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty of fraud alongside businessman Lázaro Báez and another individual.
She is unlikely to serve any prison time immediately due to her current high-ranking government roles and the lengthy appeals process.

Fernández de Kirchner was accused of arranging public works contracts in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz for Báez’s company, which embezzled revenues and laundered money through false bidding processes for projects that suffered cost overruns or were never completed.
The panel rejected a separate charge of running a criminal organization, which could have increased her sentence to 12 years.
Báez, who is under house arrest while appealing his six-year money laundering conviction, was also sentenced alongside Fernández de Kirchner.

Fernández de Kirchner defended herself after the verdict and claimed political motivations behind the charges. She termed it ’law-fare’ and asserted, “It is clear that the idea was always to convict me. This is a parallel state and mafia.”
Fernández de Kirchner announced that she would not be a candidate for any office in the upcoming presidential election due to this conviction.

Fernández de Kirchner is a divisive figure in Argentine politics and a symbol of the ‘pink tide’ of left-wing presidents who ruled Latin America at the turn of the century.
Her supporters credit her for implementing progressive economic policies that benefited the poor, while detractors accuse her of corruption.
Public trust in Argentina’s judiciary is low, and people are more likely to form opinions based on social media.
In a survey conducted in the previous year, 61.9% of respondents had a negative image of Fernández de Kirchner.
Her supporters have planned mass protests in protest of the ruling.