Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has presented a sworn statement to the Anti-Corruption Office (OA) declaring a total wealth of 16,463,095 pesos, mainly composed of the inheritance received from her late husband and presidential predecessor Néstor Kirchner.
But the lion’s share of the family fortunes was declared by her son Máximo, who heads both the Frente de Todos caucus in Congress and the La Cámpora militant grouping – some 400 million pesos last year, representing an increase of 37 percent from 2019 (roughly last year’s rate of inflation), thus qualifying for the wealth tax whose floor is half that value.
The family heir declared the same US$2,848,072 in two fixed-term deposit accounts as in previous years but the peso value increased by some 69 million to 239,095,683 pesos. The inheritance left by his father and donated by his mother also included 27 properties.
Fernández de Kirchner’s statement (actually presented last Saturday but published on the OA website on Monday) reveals an increase of 69 percent from the 9,761,186 pesos declared for last year. After allowing for inflation, the real increase was 24.2 percent.
Most assets consisted of "real-estate rights in this country" (i.e. property transferred to a third party different from the proprietor) as received from the inheritance of ex-president Néstor Kirchner – namely a total of 12,131,852 pesos.
The assets of the ex-president, who died in 2010, were divided into half for his widow and the other half for his two children, Máximo and Florencia.
The vice-president also declared 441,335 pesos in household belongings, not including any vehicle since she always uses cars from the Senate fleet.
Fernández de Kirchner also reported 3,679,029 pesos in cash deposited in two saving accounts at the end of 2020 and salary arrears totalling 210,879 pesos.
The former president, who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015, did not declare any properties or company shares since all such assets were donated to her children in 2016 ahead of the court cases against her, some of them involving the family’s Hotesur Patagonian hotel agencies.
The family companies are currently under court trusteeship in the framework of money-laundering investigations which have led to the vice-president now awaiting trial.
Since 2010, Fernández de Kirchner had been collecting the pension corresponding to a presidential widow and since 2015 that of an ex-president. Nevertheless, following the change of government, the Social Development Ministry enjoined her to choose between one or the other and when she refused, they finally suspended the widow’s pension, which the ex-president appealed in court. In late 2019, when she became vice-president, the courts granted her appeal and nixed the suspension of her right to collect both pensions.
Other details of Máximo Kirchner’s statement include shares in the family hotels to the tune of 10,151,867 pesos in Hotesur SA and 6,667,337 pesos in Los Sauces SA, as well as being owed 1,148,511 pesos by the latter. His wealth in national currency totals 12,838,079 and he also owns two vehicles worth 1,237,500 pesos.
The younger Kirchner declared his personal expenses last year as 1,299,007 pesos, averaging a monthly 108,300 pesos.
– TIMES/NA
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