Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, former president and former vice president of Argentina, was sentenced to 6 years in prison and received a lifetime disqualification from holding public office for the crime of fraudulent administration to the detriment of the State, in the case known as "Vialidad".
The Supreme Court of Justice of Argentina confirmed this sentence on June 10, 2025, upholding previous rulings by lower courts in 2022 and 2024.
Criminal conviction
The conviction is related to serious irregularities in the awarding of 51 public works contracts in the province of Santa Cruz between 2007 and 2015, during her two presidential terms.
According to the judiciary, Fernández de Kirchner favored Lázaro Báez, a close businessman and alleged front man, whose company Austral Construcciones received 79% of the bids in that province, with overpricing and works that in many cases were not completed, causing estimated losses to the State of more than US$1 billion.
Báez and other former officials, such as José López and Néstor Periotti, were also sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Because Fernández de Kirchner is 72 years old, it is likely that she will serve her sentence under house arrest, as allowed by Argentine law for those over 70 years old (154 pounds), although she must appear before the court within five business days to formalize her detention.
The sentence also includes the recovery of 84,000 million Argentine pesos related to the case.
