President Alberto Fernández met with US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday, days after she denounced alleged corruption scandal involving a top Supreme Court justice and a US investor who earned billions from Argentine debt.
The exchange between the Peronist leader and the Democratic lawmaker took place at the Argentine Consulate in New York.
Fernández is currently in the United States while he is attending the 78th United Nations General Assembly. Earlier he met with business leaders at the headquarters of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA).
Last week, Ocasio-Cortez used a congressional hearing to cite reports about a luxury trip taken by conservative US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that was allegedly paid for by financier Paul Singer, a figure of hate in Argentina due to his leadership of so-called 'vulture' holdout funds that engaged in a prolonged legal battle with the country over a multi-billion-dollar debt.
After Ocasio-Cortéz’s denouncement, which was highlighted on social networks by Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President Fernández added his voice to the criticism and stated that the allegation is “extremely serious and scandalous."
"That’s how vulture funds got rulings against Argentina, as rightly pointed out by Cristina Kirchner. Not very different from what happened at Lago Escondido which courts haven’t investigated to this day,” he highlighted, referencing another legal scandal in Argentina involving judges, prosecutors and other significant figures.
After US judge Loretta Preska recently ruled against the Argentine State in the claim related to the nationalisation of state energy firm YPF, the head of state is now meeting with Ocasio-Cortez to delve further into the topic.
The president's schedule will continue this afternoon, with his participation in a roundtable (“Game-changers: Applying science, technology, innovation and data for transformative action”,)within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit and will end with a series of meetings with UN, CELAC and African Union authorities.
At 8pm on Monday, Fernández is to meet the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, and will then attend a closed event with members of the CELAC and the African Union.
Activities scheduled for Tuesday will kick off with his address at the General Debate of the General Assembly, which is to take place at 10am, and will continue in the afternoon, when he will witness the opening of a high-level event organised by the Spanish government: “Towards a Fair International Financial Architecture."
Afterwards, he will take part in the General Debate of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, and will end his trip with a reception offered by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, to be held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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