The Federal Oral Court No. 2, which is involved in the Vialidad case, ordered a new series of seizures on properties and commercial assets linked to those convicted in the case.
Among the assets affected by the ruling is the apartment located at San José 1111, where the corrupt former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is serving house arrest.
The measure is part of the judicial progress aimed at recovering the $685 billion established as the amount of the financial damage caused to the State by the corruption schemes related to public works.
The scope of the ruling includes a wide list of properties and assets. However, the Court clarified that the seizures do not imply an immediate auction of the properties nor do they change the ownership of the assets. The measure establishes their legal unavailability to prevent them from being transferred or encumbered while the definitive confiscation is determined.
The corrupt Cristina Kirchner
The apartment at San José 1111
The property located at San José 1111, where Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is currently under house arrest, has been included in this new stage of judicial measures.
Judges Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu, and Andrés Basso also extended the measures to assets related to Máximo and Florencia Kirchner.
The ruling adds to an initial phase of confiscation that had already reached 111 assets and is currently in the appraisal process. This second phase was initiated in February by prosecutors Sergio Mola and Diego Luciani.
In this context, Attorney General Diego Luciani had requested that the $5,656,134 that Florencia Kirchner has seized at Banco Galicia, in addition to the apartment at San José 1111, also be included in the confiscation.
Cristina Kirchner
Seizures on properties of the Kirchner family
Among the assets affected by the judicial decision are properties located in the Madero Center complex in Puerto Madero. This includes a duplex, seven parking spaces, an apartment, and a storage room that the Kirchner family owns through commercial companies.
The ruling also includes land and buildings located in the province of Santa Cruz. Within this set is the site where the Hotel La Aldea del Chaltén operates.
Additionally, various properties located in El Calafate and Río Gallegos were included. The list features the former president's chalet located on Avenida Costanera Presidente Néstor Kirchner, as well as other homes located on Alvear, Moreno, and 25 de Mayo streets.
The judges justified the extension of the measures on the assets of Máximo and Florencia Kirchner by recalling that, according to the Vialidad ruling, the fraudulent maneuvers generated direct economic benefits for businessman Lázaro Báez and indirect benefits for the Kirchner family.
According to the ruling, the trial established a commercial relationship between Báez's companies and the companies Los Sauces and Hotesur, through which the businessman's firms rented, built, and operated hotels belonging to the Kirchner family.
Cristina Kirchner, Máximo Kirchner, and Lázaro Báez
Companies and assets of the convicted
The new judicial ruling was not limited to properties linked to the Kirchner family. The Court also ordered seizures on assets belonging to construction companies related to the maneuvers investigated regarding public works.
In this framework, the seizure of four properties belonging to the firm Kank and Costilla was ordered. There was also progress on a property located in Río Gallegos that Lázaro Báez had acquired in late 2005 through a rights transfer related to a previous succession process.
The judges also ordered the re-registration of seizures on various personal vehicles of the individuals convicted in the case.
The request to Banco Galicia for Florencia Kirchner's dollars
The Justice also urgently requested information from Banco Galicia regarding Florencia Kirchner's assets. The TOF No. 2 gave the financial institution a 24-hour deadline to report the status of a safety deposit box and two savings accounts, one in pesos and another in dollars.
The request was made under legal warning due to the bank's repeated previous failures to comply with information requests made by the Court.
This issue is significant because Diego Luciani requested that the $5,656,134 seized in Florencia Kirchner's name at that institution also be included in the set of assets intended for financial recovery.
