In another Friday bombshell, Kirchnerite businessman Cristóbal López handed himself in to the Gendarmerie (Border Guard) last night, after an appellate’s court rolled back a previous ruling that had set him free after some three months behind bars.
López and his business associate Fabián De Sousa, the owners of Grupo Indalo, werejailed in late December and spent nearly three months behind bars for defrauding the state to the tune of eight billion pesos. They were freed after a ruling from a previous appellate’s court on March 16.
According to Perfil, López handed himself in to members of the Gendarmerie just before 8pm in Buenos Aires and was taken to the Centinela Building in Retiro neighbourhood. He will be jailed again at Ezeiza prison, while De Sousa will head to Marcos Paz prison.
Along with reversing the previous ruling, the First Body of the Federal Chamber toughened the accusations against the owners of Grupo Indalo, once again taking the accusation to “defrauding the state” while confirming the indictment of former Kirchnerite taxman Ricardo Echegaray, who for the time being will not face preventive prison.
Judges Gustavo Hornos and Eduardo Riggi signed the ruling, which raised the embargo against the businessmen to 17 billion pesos, while Judge Ana María Figueroa dissented. Thus, the appellate’s court accepted a motion by Public Prosecutor Raúl Pleé and the current administration of the tax authority, AFIP. The arrest warrants were signed by Judge Julián Ercolini.
López and De Sousa had been freed by a controversial ruling by a previous judicial instance that reduced the severity of the charges against them, leading to the transfer of one of the judges who signed the documents, Eduardo Farah, to another court.
As he left prison after his first spell behind bars, López – who is accused of appropriating fuel taxes to finance the expansion of his business conglomerate under the auspices of the Kirchner administration – had blasted the courts for his “kidnapping” and vowed to seek revenge by speaking to the media, but was later dissuaded by lawyers.
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