Former Alberto Fernández appeared in court Wednesday, answering a summons obliging him to testify in a case investigating alleged corruption during his 2019-2023 presidency.
Accompanied by his lawyers and amid tight security, including Federal Police officers patrolling all along the 4th floor, the veteran Peronist entered the secretariat of federal courtroom number 11 in Retiro, before federal judge Julián Ercolini and prosecutor Carlos Rívolo.
Fernández, 65, is suspected of fraudulent administration over his government's use of brokers, one of which had ties to his office, to contract insurance policies that could have been negotiated directly.
The main broker was the husband of the former president’s personal secretary.
This was Fernández’s first court appearance as an indicted witness since leaving the presidency. This procedural step, which had been initially scheduled for November 20, had been postponed at the request of the prosecution, alleging conflicting commitments.
Other witnesses – the indicted insurance broker Héctor Martínez Sosa, his wife María Cantero, the former private secretary of the ex-president, and Oscar Castello – had been summoned for the following day but their testimony was also rescheduled.
The indicted are accused of "having intervened in a co-ordinated and functional manner, approximately between December, 2019 and December, 2023, in a scheme for collecting and distributing public funds via the irregular redirection of the insurance contracts and intermediation undertaken by various public offices with ´NACIÓN SEGUROS S.A.´”
Fernández has not been formally charged in the case, though he is under investigation. A lawyer by training, the ex-president appealed the summons, requesting that it be quashed, but his challenge was rejected.
Although he had the right to answer questions in writing, the ex-president, a lawyer and law professor by profession, opted to show up in court.
The former president testified but declined to answer questions from the judge, his lawyer Mariana Barbitta confirmed to reporters after Wednesday's hearing.
She insisted "there is no evidence" against her client.
The judge now has 10 working days to resolve whether there is sufficient evidence to try Fernández, whether to decide his acquittal or to request more evidence from the prosecution.
Allegations
The corruption allegations emerged when the court ordered an examination of his secretary's phone as part of another investigation into alleged assault claims made against Fernandez by his ex-partner, former first lady Fabiola Yáñez.
The insurance case involves policies taken out with Nación Seguros, the insurance arm of state-owned Banco Nación, which Fernández chose to cover government departments against various types of risks.
Prosecutors allege middlemen “who performed no real function” collected “lofty” commissions on contracts that could have been placed directly. Fernández obliged state departments to use the broker in a government decree.
Judge Ercolini observes in the casefile that, in some cases, producers and insurance co-agents had been appointed without any formal procedures while in other cases procedures had been simulated for the economic benefit of third parties.
Nearly 40 people in total have been called to give evidence in the case, including the secretary, her husband and former Nación Seguros officials.
Cantero, the wife of Martínez Sosa, is singled out as a key figure in the alleged scheme. According to the investigation, she occupied “a position of privilege” as Fernández’s historic secretary, a positon which later led to a post in the Presidency without any competitive examination or process of selection.
The judge underlined that Martínez Sosa maintained a close and long-standing relationship with Fernández, separate from his martial link to Cantero.
Numerous exchanges of gifts, loans, money and jewellery were reportedly registered between them over the yers, as well as the shared use of furniture.
Legal problems mount
The case being pressed by Prosecutor Rívolo is not the former president’s only judicial problem.
Fernández also faces a parallel indictment from a gender violence case initiated by his ex-partner, former first lady Fabiola Yañez. The alleged violence and harassment dates back to his time as head of state.
A prosecutor last week requested a summons for interrogation in this file, a request which Kudge Ercolini will also have to resolve.
Last Wednesday marked a critical moment for Fernández, whose post-presidential career seems doomed to unfold more in the courtrooms than in national politics.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
Comments