Máximo Kirchner was arrested while driving a truck with an outstanding warrant

The “ñoqui” national deputy Máximo Kirchner was delayed this wednesday at the border post of Justo Daract, in the province of San Luis, while traveling to San Juan. During the police check, the officers detected that the truck he was traveling in had an active request for seizure in the context of the investigation into the Hotesur case, so they immediately ordered the vehicle to be retained. Although Máximo Kirchner was not deprived of his liberty, the judicial measure was executed firmly and the leader was left stranded: the Justice ordered the seizure of the vehicle he was traveling in.

The leader of La Cámpora was heading to San Juan, a province where he had scheduled for this thursday an agenda of meetings with representatives of Peronism and activists. The official activity included a meeting with national legislators and members of the leadership of the Justicialist Party of San Juan, with his participation in the working table titled “The Argentina that is coming”, scheduled for 6 PM at the party headquarters, with the presence of national senator Celeste Giménez and national deputy Cristian Andino.

This procedure in Justo Daract occurred just one day after the San Luis Police seized a RAM 2500 Laramie 4×4 truck linked to the same judicial case. This operation was carried out on tuesday at 10:02 AM on provincial route No. 1, at the control post of Los Molles, when the vehicle was moving from Cortaderas to Villa de Merlo.

According to the official report from the security force, the unit is registered in the name of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and had a request for seizure issued by the National Justice in February 2019. During the procedure, the police confirmed that the driver was a 38-year-old resident of Cortaderas, while the current registered owner is a man residing in San Luis.

The vehicle had entered the province on Sunday, September 27 and was detected by the automatic license plate readers installed at the Santa Rosa del Conlara arch, a system that is part of the Federal Digital Ring. After being intercepted on tuesday, the unit was seized and placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority.

The seizure order is based on a judicial order signed on February 28, 2019 by federal judge Julián Ercolini, which ordered the seizure of various vehicles belonging to members of the Kirchner family, businessman Lázaro Báez, and other associated individuals and companies. The measure was issued within the case No. 11352/14, titled “Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet and others s/ inf. art. 303 of the CP”.

The Hotesur case investigates alleged money laundering maneuvers through the exploitation of hotels owned by the Kirchner family. The accusation claims that public funds from the irregular awarding of public works to companies owned by Lázaro Báez returned to the family’s assets through payments for rentals and hotel contracts. In this scheme, prosecutors pointed to the company Valle Mitre as a commercial intermediary between the companies of the Báez group and the hotel establishments of the Kirchners to channel the funds and give them an appearance of legality.

For these facts, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Máximo Kirchner, and Lázaro Báez are among the defendants who will face the oral trial. The Federal Oral Court No. 5 set the start of the judicial debate of the Hotesur case for March 19, 2027.

The police deployment is part of the security policy promoted by Governor Claudio Poggi to reinforce access to San Luis through the renovation of 13 border posts and the incorporation of vehicle control technology. In particular, the border post of Justo Daract, where Máximo Kirchner was intercepted, was reopened on September 3 after an investment of $137 million. The unit is equipped with surveillance cameras and license plate readers integrated into the digital ring, monitored from the police center of 911 in Terrazas del Portezuelo, tools that made it possible to detect the investigated vehicles.