Lázaro Báez will serve 15 years in prison after his sentences were consolidated

The Federal Oral Court 4 made the decision to unify the sentences imposed on Lázaro Báez, the businessman close to the corrupt former president Cristina Kirchner, for the cases known as "La Ruta del Dinero K" and "Vialidad." With this ruling by the judiciary, the businessman and former owner of Austral Construcciones must serve a total sentence of 15 years in prison.

Judges Néstor Costabel, Fernando Canero, and Ricardo Basílico determined that Báez must serve this unified sentence, in addition to facing a fine equivalent to six times the amount proven in the money laundering case, a sum that amounts to 54.8 million dollars. Currently, the businessman is being held in a prison in Río Gallegos.

In their ruling, the judges noted that they evaluated the multimillion-dollar nature of the scheme attributed to Báez, as well as the total control he exercised over those funds. They also highlighted the impact these actions had on the economic and financial order, which, according to the court, aggravates the content of the crime and its legal seriousness.

Báez's defense had requested that their client serve only six years in prison, but the request was rejected. The sentences now unified included 10 years for money laundering and 6 years for fraudulent administration in the Vialidad case, now condensed into a single sentence of 15 years.

As if the unification of the sentences were not enough, this morning Lázaro Báez was notified of a new judicial measure. He, Cristina Kirchner, and other convicted individuals in the Vialidad case must return to the State a sum of 500 million dollars, corresponding to the misappropriated public funds intended for works in the province of Santa Cruz.

If payment is not made, the judiciary will proceed, within a period of 10 days, with the seizure and execution of the assets of those involved. Among the most affected are the corrupt former president Cristina Kirchner and Báez himself, due to the magnitude of their assets.

In the case of the businessman, he owns about 130 properties, mostly located in Santa Cruz, in addition to the share value of several construction companies involved in the scheme, such as Austral Construcciones, Loscalzos y Del Cierto, Sucesión Adelmo Biancalani, and Kank y Costilla.