Ex president Cristina Fernandez properties searched as part of a alleged financial fraud wider investigation
The properties of former Argentina president Cristina Fernandez, in the province of Santa Cruz, have been raided by police on Thursday. The search was part of an investigation into the ex president’s possible involvement in financial fraud.
The raids were ordered by judge Claudio Bonadio after allegations of corruption and fraud were leveled against Cristina Fernandez relating to a company, Los Sauces, partly owned by her family. According to Argentine news agency Telam, police were looking for the documents of the company.
Bonadio also issued a warrant to search offices and apartments in the towns of Rio Gallegos, El Calafate and El Chalten belonging to the family of the former president.
She called the search political humiliation and tweeted: “It has been a while, decades I would say, since we’ve seen such an abuse of power and political persecution.”
However, this is not the first time the ex-president’s properties have been raided. In 2015, a hotel and other buildings belonging to her were searched by the country’s police after a congresswoman, Margarita Stolbizer, filed a legal complaint against the former president and her children, Maximo and Florencia, accusing them of fraud and illegal enrichment.
In another case filed in May, Stolbizer accused Cristina Fernandez of being responsible for central bank irregularities in the futures market.
President Mauricio Macri’s government has begun investigations into alleged corruption during her two-term presidency.
Meanwhile, in June one of Kirchner’s top public works officials was arrested on charges of alleged money laundering. He was caught throwing bags filled with money worth around US$9m over the walls of a monastery in Buenos Aires province.
Separately, a federal court on Thursday ordered that Fernandez be included in an investigation of alleged money laundering by Lazaro Baez, a businessman who was recently arrested. Baez benefited from public works contracts and other projects during the 12 years that Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner, were in power.
During her eight years in the presidency, Fernandez was dogged by corruption allegations. Since leaving office, she has also been included in investigations involving allegations of defrauding the state as part of her government’s handling of the dollar futures market. She has denied any wrongdoing.
