President Javier Milei’s government has accused his political arch-rival, Peronist leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of fraud over privileged state pension payments.
At the heart of its complaint is the government’s contention that Fernández de Kirchner resides in Buenos Aires City, where she has a flat in the upmarket neighbourhood of Recoleta, despite stating legally that she resides in her native Santa Cruz Province.
The criminal complaint, filed by the Human Capital Ministry via the ANSES social security agency, accuses the two-term ex-president and former vice-president of “fraud, deception against the Public Administration, and malfeasance,” alleging she has declared “an allegedly false domicile” in Argentina’s south.
In the document, seen by the Noticias Argentinas news agency, two ANSES officials accuse Fernández de Kirchner of illegally benefitting from the Austral Zone benefit—a bonus in state pension and welfare payments for those who live in Patagonia.
The report says the benefit should only be received by those with “effective residence or actual settlement” in the provinces of Río Negro, Neuquén, Chubut, Santa Cruz, La Pampa, Tierra del Fuego, and a few other smaller settlements.
In a “criminally reprehensible act,” the writ alleges, the former president lied about her address to remain eligible for a monthly bonus of 6.35 million pesos.
This is not the first time Milei’s government has challenged Fernández de Kirchner over privileged pension payments, which they portray as perks granted by a corrupt political class.
As the widow of late former president Néstor Kirchner and a former president herself, Fernández de Kirchner receives a gross total of 35.25 million pesos a month, the government said, adding that it is the equivalent of almost 136 minimum pensions. After deductions, the amount came to 21.82 million pesos.
ANSES Chief Mariano De Los Héros states that the former official submitted a residence certificate from Río Gallegos last year, which entitled her to receive an Austral Zone supplement amounting to 6.35 million pesos.
“In the case of Mrs Fernández de Kirchner, it is public and widely known that her residence was in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires during the period in which she received both allowances, while serving first as senator for the Province of Buenos Aires (December 10, 2017 – December 10, 2019) and then as vice-president of the nation (December 10, 2019 – December 10, 2023),” reads the report.
In a swift response on social media, Fernández de Kirchner described the complaint as “nonsense” and suggested Milei should seek medical advice.
Referring to previous corruption allegations against her, which she says were pushed by ex-president Mauricio Macri and Milei’s Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello, she railed at the president and argued that her elected positions had meant she had been forced to split her time between the south and the capital.
“Now you too, like Mauricio Macri, are reporting me in Comodoro Py and sending the donkey who does Reiki and takes food away from the poor, along with the other fool you put in ANSES, fresh from his holiday in Mexico, to pull off the nonsense of claiming my domicile is not in Santa Cruz?” wrote the former head of state, also referring to De los Héros.
– TIMES/NA
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