The alleged frontman of the Kirchner family, businessman Lázaro Báez, on Wednesday denied the existence of leaked audio recordings of a conversation he alleged had his lawyer in which he claimed to have obtained his current wealth and assets from "a person higher up" than him.
Báez is currently detained under a preventative arrest order for alleged participation in corruption during the Néstor and Cristina Kirchner governments. Prosecutors allege his personal fortune as the owner of a construction firm in Santa Cruz province is unexplainable if not for his alleged involvement in money laundering and embezzlement.
"Everything I have comes from a person higher up than me. He gave it to me to administer and I did not know how to administer it perhaps in the best way according to his wishes", Báez reportedly says in the recording, which was alluded to in a report by the Todo Noticias news channel's online portal claiming Báez can be heard speaking to his defence lawyer Elizabeth Gazaro.
The audios are said to be in the hands of investigators.
"That conversation never happened, it never existed. It would be a lack of respect toward my friend", Báez told the C5N news network, in reference to late former president Néstor Kirchner who prosecutors argue orchestrated a series of schemes to steal public funds during his and his wife's subsequent presidency.
"I am not surprised at all. You only have to look back at how the casefile has evolved, since they detained me on laughable grounds", Báez added.
The businessman said he had received visits to his Ezeiza Penitentiary cell from AFI intelligence agents.
"People from the AFI came to see me and said that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had a high average voting intention. This entire campaign is designed to stop her and destroy Peronism. The leadership of Cristina is much stronger than any other supposed or possible candidate", he insisted.
"It is time for this [his own legal situation] to be cleared up because we will make attempts in the right places", Báez concluded.
-TIMES/PERFIL
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