MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Assets from CFK and Lázaro Báez seized

In the court's view, these properties, such as Los Sauces (photo), were the “proceeds or profits” of the criminal scheme carried out between May 2003 and December 2015

The Federal Oral Court # 2 (TOF 2) in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires has ordered the seizure of real estate and funds valued at an updated total of US$684,990,350,139.86 in the ongoing case concerning fraudulent administration against the State's Motorroads Bureau (Vialidad).

The decision targets assets belonging to former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, businessman Lázaro Antonio Báez, other convicted individuals, and associated companies. The measure also extends to properties owned by CFK's children, Florencia Kirchner and Congressman Máximo Kirchner.

The court —made up of Judges Jorge Gorini, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu, and Andrés Basso— was executing the seizure warrant pursuant to June 10's final ruling in the case.

The original amount of over US$84 billion was significantly increased to the current US$685 billion figure following analysis by official experts and the Supreme Court's (CSJN) Expert Accountants. The convicted parties failed to comply with the order to pay the updated amount, triggering Wednesday's actions.

The warrant includes properties belonging to Báez's companies: Austral Construcciones S.A., Kank y Costilla S.A., Gotti Hnos. S.A., and Loscalzo y Del Curto S.R.L. Among the specific assets included are properties transferred to Máximo and Florencia Kirchner, such as land, apartments, houses, and the Los Sauces Casa Patagónica hotel in El Calafate.

In the court's view, these properties were the “proceeds or profits” of the criminal scheme carried out between May 2003 and December 2015.

The court ruling explicitly states that the confiscated assets must be registered in the General Database of Seized and/or Confiscated Assets. The ruling also includes a provision for the seizure of assets belonging to other convicted parties, such as Nelson Guillermo Periotti and José Francisco López, should the initially confiscated assets prove insufficient to cover the total amount.

The defendants' legal teams had requested the court to reject the confiscation of the identified assets, citing an alleged lack of proof establishing a direct link between the assets and the crime, insufficient evidence supporting the measure, a violation of constitutional principles, and invoking questions regarding the inclusion of assets acquired before the defendants held public office or assets previously investigated in other cases that were dismissed.