MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine gov't to file criminal charges Supreme Court head.

The Argentine government announced Wednesday that it intended to file criminal charges against Supreme Court President Julio Nazareno over a case that cost the state more than $100 million.

"Whether he leaves the Court or not, resigns or not, Nazareno will face criminal charges for the 'Meller case', which cost the Argentine state a huge amount of money," Justice Minister Gustavo Beliz said. The minister resumed his offensive against the chief justice on the eve of the deadline by which Nazareno must submit his reply to the Impeachment Commission of the Lower House of Congress.

Congressmen have admitted 16 charges against Nazareno, including those relating to the Meller case, in which a contractor sued the state for payment of a contract worth $29 million.

Although the two offices which monitor state spending warned that payment of the contract had already been made, the Supreme Court, with the votes of Nazareno and another four justices, ruled in favor of the contractor.

But due to the inflation adjustment, interest and other penalties set by the Supreme Court, the state eventually was forced to pay $137.5 million instead of the $29 million demanded by the contractor.

Nazareno was summoned to appear before the Impeachment Commission Thursday, but his lawyers on Wednesday night submitted a 121-page writ to the Commission, in which the justice refuted the charges.

"The Impeachment Commission has ignored the most elementary principles of the due process of law, flaunting even the doctrine imposed by the Inter-American Human Rights Court," the writ said.

The chief justice also notified the Commission that he would not appear before it on Thursday and maintained that the impeachment initiated by the Lower House of Congress was "inadmissible." He also rejected the 13 members of the Impeachment Commission for their "obvious enmity," since they are the same lawmakers who last year unsuccessfully promoted a similar impeachment to remove him from the Court.

Shortly after he became Argentina's president on May 25, Nestor Kirchner leveled charges against the Supreme Court justices and asked Congress to expedite impeachment procedures against them.

Since then, the media has become the forum of choice for Nazareno to respond to his critics, leading to the filing with Congress of another complaint against him for an alleged "lack of the decorum" demanded from an Argentine justice.