Prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola asked Federal Oral Court No. 2 (TOF 2) to immediately proceed with the asset execution against Cristina Kirchner, her children Máximo and Florencia, and the rest of those convicted in the Vialidad case. The request was submitted after the former president and her heirs opposed the confiscation of twenty properties that the Public Prosecutor's Office considers to have been acquired with funds originating from corruption.
In their submission, the prosecutors pointed out that there is resistance from those convicted to comply with the final sentence and that this attitude requires activating the mechanisms to execute the seizures and recover the $685,000 million (about 537 million dollars) that the court ordered to be returned to the State.
The ruling and the disputed properties
On July 15, judges Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu, and Andrés Basso ordered Cristina Kirchner, Lázaro Báez, José López, Nelson Periotti, and other individuals involved to "jointly pay the aforementioned sum," equivalent to the updated amount of the damage caused by the fraudulent scheme between 2003 and 2015.
Since none of the defendants complied with the payment within the ten business day period, the court enabled the next stage: the execution and auction of assets. Among the assets affected are hotels, apartment complexes, land, and houses belonging to the Kirchner family.
The Kirchners' absurd justification
The Kirchners' lawyers rejected the measure, insisting on the thesis of "political persecution" and maintaining that the assets were acquired "legally, with legitimate funds". In their response, they argued that the objective of the Public Prosecutor's Office was not to recover money for the State but to "symbolically punish" a family for its political role.
