Julio De Vido was convicted of irregular LNG purchases during Kirchnerism.

Federal Oral Court No. 7 sentenced this Tuesday former Minister of Federal Planning Julio De Vido, his former Undersecretary Roberto Baratta, and businessman Nicolás Dromi San Martino for irregularities in the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the Kirchner administration. The judicial investigation revealed that acquisitions were made without competitive procedures and through private intermediaries, to the detriment of the State.

Julio De Vido received a sentence of four years in prison and permanent disqualification for fraudulent administration, while Baratta was sentenced to three years and six months. Dromi, CEO of Diligentia S.A., received a suspended sentence of three years as a necessary participant. Although the sentences are to be served effectively, immediate detention was not ordered until the ruling becomes final.

The case originated from maneuvers detected in the acquisition of 11 LNG vessels between 2008 and 2009, for an amount exceeding 380 million dollars. The court also ordered the joint restitution of 5,523,345 dollars plus interest. Of that total, 4,791,600 dollars must be returned by the three convicted individuals, while De Vido and Baratta will face an additional 731,744 dollars on their own.

The ruling was delivered by Judge Enrique Méndez Signori together with magistrates Germán Castelli and Fernando Canero, who last week had acquitted De Vido in another case known as "Mamá Corazón". In this process, however, the judges found that administrative irregularities in the management of public funds and the use of intermediaries for energy purchases were proven.

Prosecutor Fabiana León argued that from the Ministry of Federal Planning a "functionally coordinated" fraud was orchestrated through payments "contrary to the public interest, arbitrary and unnecessary" to intermediary companies. The companies involved were Diligentia, Dysan, and YPF, within the framework of the Total Energy Program (PET), which had been created in 2007 to address the energy deficit after the end of gas exports to neighboring countries.

The investigation found that there were no public tenders or competitive procedures. Enarsa, the state-owned company responsible for the purchases, acted as a passive intermediary instead of managing directly, as established by PET regulations. The lack of an internal procurement regulation was considered "the core of the fraudulent mechanism" that allowed discretion in the management of public funds, according to the accusation.

The original complaint was filed by then-opposition deputies Patricia Bullrich, Laura Alonso, and Federico Pinedo. The case was initially linked to the Cuadernos case, which investigated a corruption network during the Kirchner administration. Although at first alleged overpricing in purchases made between 2008 and 2015 was analyzed, the trial ultimately focused on the intermediary maneuvers of eleven shipments.

Six of these shipments were managed by YPF and sold by Repsol Comercializadora de Gas S.A. for a total of 267,935,139 dollars. The remaining five were acquired through Diligentia and Dysan, companies owned by the Dromi family, for 112,475,792 dollars.

Intermediation commissions and fees reached 5,523,345 dollars, which must now be returned. The prosecution concluded that there was no technical or contractual service to justify these payments.

Dromi San Martino, son of former Menem administration minister Roberto Dromi, was also required to complete a course on "guidelines for integrity and public ethics for the private sector". His father had been prosecuted in the same case but died before the trial, as did Exequiel Omar Espinoza, former president of Enarsa.

The full grounds for the ruling will be released on November 28. The decision represents a new judicial setback for De Vido, who faces multiple cases related to his administration during the Kirchner era.