The sixth hearing in the Cuadernos case trial produced one of the strongest confessions against the heart of Kirchnerism. During the reading of the statements from the collaborating defendants, the testimony of Héctor Zabaleta, a longtime Techint executive and now a whistleblower, emerged, who directly linked Néstor Kirchner himself to requests for money in exchange for the awarding of public works contracts.
According to the account read during the hearing, Roberto Baratta, then the number two at the Ministry of Federal Planning, introduced himself as "De Vido's deputy minister," informed him that he had spoken with Luis Betnaza, Techint group's institutional director, and that Betnaza had provided him with his phone number. In that conversation, Baratta got straight to the point: he said that "he had to give some dollars". Zabaleta replied that he did not have liquidity in foreign currency and that, in any case, he could provide pesos, something he later confirmed with Betnaza before proceeding.
The most explosive part of his statement came afterward. Zabaleta clarified that, at that time, Techint "did not have any public works contracts" and that they had even withdrawn from the Route 7 concession because Néstor Kirchner was demanding money from them. In other words, a former Administration director of one of the country's largest economic groups stated that the company gave up a road concession due to demands for money from the then president.
After that withdrawal, the deliveries began. The whistleblower recounted that Baratta personally came to collect the money and that on that first occasion it was the "largest bundle" of all the deliveries, which he estimated at about two million pesos. The cash traveled in a travel bag provided by the company itself, which Baratta took and left on the floor of the back seat of the Toyota Corolla in which he traveled, always with a driver.
