Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, along with her children, has been charged with money laundering. When the news popped up last week, I thought it was an old news item.
It is, and it isn’t: This is the fourth time she’s been charged with money laundering.
DW has the story:
Argentina ex-President Cristina Kirchner charged with money laundering
Argentina ex-President Cristina Kirchner has been criminally charged for the fourth time, and her passport has been confiscated. The latest charges stem from alleged money laundering in real estate ventures.
I guess she won’t be dropping by the Seychelles any time soon now that they took her passport (link in Spanish). DW continues,
Former Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was formally charged with money laundering and running a criminal association related to real estate dealings, the country’s Judicial Information Service said on Tuesday.
Kirchner, who served as president from 2007 to 2015, already faces trial in a separate case for alleged financial mismanagement in office.
It is the fourth set of criminal charges to beset the former president. Judge Claudio Bonadío said Kirchner was criminally responsible for being part of an illicit association, which she headed, and involved in laundering assets of illicit origin. The charges were aggravated by the fact that Kirchner was a government official and was involved in negotiations incompatible with her position as president, the judge said.
A family affair
Also charged were Kirchner’s two children, Florencia and Maximo, who is currently a member of congress. Businessmen Cristobal Lopez and Lazaro Baez were also prosecuted as head of a company set up by the Kirchners which owned several hotels in Santa Cruz province.
The latest investigation turned up fourteen houses she “never declared” to the anti-corruption or the tax authorities. (How does one manage that, I wonder?)
In addition to the money laundering cases, let’s not forget that Cristina has pending charges for allegedly ordering Argentina’s central bank to illegally trade derivatives, which cost the country $5.5 billion.
$5.50 says she doesn’t serve time.
Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.
