Argentine ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has – for the third time – been called for questioning under the framework of so-called notebooks graft case. Key business leaders and ex-public officials were also summoned, with prosecutors and judges probing alleged corruption and bribery centred on the ex-head of state's government.
Argentine national deputy Máximo Kirchner and eldest son of former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, appeared in court on Tuesday morning to testify in the so-called ‘notebooks’ corruption case, probing the alleged payments of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks siphoned off from public works projects.
A Court of Appeals Friday upheld a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for former Argentine President Carlos Menem for undue bonuses paid to government officials during his administration. His then Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo was sentenced to three and a half years.
The son of Argentine ex president Cristina Fernandez, Máximo Kirchner will appear later this month in court to testify in the so-called notebooks of corruption investigation, after Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio summoned the national congressman.
A former Rio Gallegos civil servant said Cristina and Máximo Kirchner were involved in the 2013 operation to prevent the cash from being found during a court-mandated raid. Danilo Alberto Penissi testified before Judge Claudio Bonadio in the investigation into the notebooks of corruption case.
The book topping Argentina's bestseller list is not a thriller or a murder mystery. It’s a crime story of another sort: a blockbuster about political corruption that suggests that bribery is an integral part of the country’s body politic. And neighboring Uruguay is also described as the perfect Swiss laundry for most of the money swindled from Argentina.
Argentina's ex-President Cristina Fernandez said on Tuesday that she never received corrupt payments and challenged investigators to scour her home region of Patagonia if they believed she had hidden cash, a day after she was indicted on graft charges.
An Argentine federal judge indicted former President Cristina Fernandez on Monday and asked for her arrest for allegedly heading a corruption scheme that collected bribes from business leaders in exchange for public work contracts.
According to Buenos Aires daily Clarin, United States authorities have offered to collaborate with Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s government in the ongoing K notebook scandal by providing confidential information on a number of US bank accounts used to hold alleged Kirchner bribe money.
A third day of search at ex president Cristina Fernandez' property in the Patagonian resort of El Calafate did not seem to deliver much in terms of money or valuables, despite a thorough inspection of the house, as part of the of a major corruption case involving Argentina's business elite and ex government officials.