La Derecha Diario The justice system ordered the seizure of assets from Lázaro Báez: more than USD $54 million
Money laundering involving hundreds of properties, luxury vehicles, accounts in tax havens, and fortunes transferred abroad are some examples
In a new chapter of the corruption scandal that left a lasting mark on the Kirchnerist era, the federal judiciary ordered the seizure of assets belonging to Lázaro Báez—the star businessman of Kirchnerism and convicted for being the key player in the "K Money Trail"—worth over 54 million dollars. The measure also extends to his son, Martín Báez, and the entire corporate network built to launder funds from public works contracts.
The Federal Oral Court No. 4, signed by Judge Néstor Costabel, began executing the seizure and allocation of properties, bank accounts, and registered assets in the name of Báez and his companies, Austral Construcciones among them. The scale of the assets is monumental: 440 properties, 972 vehicles and road machinery, as well as multimillion-dollar deposits abroad.
An appraisal conducted in November 2017 estimated the total value at 3,058,871,300 pesos (6,746,000 pounds), equivalent to 205,134,525 dollars at the exchange rate of that time. The objective is clear: to recover the laundered money from corruption crimes proven in court, as well as to enforce the fines imposed in the convictions. Báez Sr. is serving a 15-year prison sentence.
For the crime of money laundering between 2010 and 2013, TOF No. 4 ordered the seizure of USD 54,872,866.69 and imposed a fine equivalent to three times that amount. Meanwhile, Martín Báez must pay a penalty equivalent to seven times the amount he laundered. In addition, there are another USD 5 million and 4,174,697 pesos (9,204 pounds), adjustable for inflation, for other criminal acts.
The seizure is not limited to Argentina. In Switzerland, the remittance of USD 907,202 invested in account 51148100 of the company Tyndall Inc. Limited at Banco Lombard Odier was ordered. In Bahamas, the repatriation of €2,981,646.12 and €1,009,391.16 from accounts at Banco CBH was required, both in the name of Eastern Shoreline Limited.
The ruling also included the recovery of funds obtained from the auction of two aircraft—a Rockwell Commander LV–MBY and a Learjet LV-BPL—for 4,300,000 pesos (9,484 pounds), deposited in Banco Nación and awarded to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The asset investigation was led by federal prosecutor Guillermo Marijuán, who in 2016 personally traveled to Santa Cruz to conduct a thorough survey with the support of the National Appraisers Corps. For months, the team visited ranches, hotels, and properties registered in the name of Báez, his relatives, or his shell companies.
Authorities identified 19 companies in which Báez participated directly or through front men. More than 300 procedures resulted in the seizure or confiscation of assets ranging from real estate and collectible cars to heavy machinery and objects of high historical and cultural value.
Among the seized assets are apartments, hotels in El Calafate, Río Gallegos, Lago Puelo, and Comodoro Rivadavia, as well as extensive ranches spanning thousands of hectares. Eleven of these assets belong directly to Martín Báez.
Judge Costabel ordered that all assets be transferred to the ownership of the Supreme Court and registered in the "General Database of Seized and/or Confiscated Assets in criminal cases under the jurisdiction of the National and Federal Judiciary".
It remains to be determined how these seizures will be integrated with those sought in the Vialidad Case, another case that exposes the plundering of the State during Kirchnerism. Last month, TOF No. 4 unified the sentence in that case with that of the "K Money Trail", thus closing the judicial circle on one of the most emblematic corruption cases in Argentine history.
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