MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine court orders execution of Cristina Kirchner's assets for about $480 million in Vialidad case

The core of the ruling consolidates a legal principle of significant impact: assets of illicit origin can be confiscated even when transferred to third parties or received through inheritance

Argentina's Federal Court of Cassation on Friday confirmed the confiscation of assets in the fraudulent administration case known as Vialidad and ordered their execution to cover an amount of 684.99 billion pesos — approximately $480 million at the official exchange rate — considered by the courts as the damage caused to the state in the awarding of public works contracts in the province of Santa Cruz during the Kirchner administrations.

The ruling, issued by majority of Chamber IV of the court, made up of judges Gustavo Hornos, Diego Barroetaveña, and Mariano Borinsky, covers 111 assets linked to former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, her children Máximo and Florencia, and businessman Lázaro Báez, also convicted in the case. The measure includes one property in the former president's own name, 19 properties transferred to her children through inheritance, and approximately 84 assets belonging to Báez and linked companies, including Austral Construcciones, Kank y Costilla, Gotti Hermanos, and Loscalzo y Del Curto.

The core of the ruling consolidates a legal principle of significant impact: assets of illicit origin can be confiscated even when transferred to third parties or received through inheritance. “Confiscation cannot remain an abstract declaration, but must translate into the real and effective recovery of assets derived from the crime,” Judge Hornos said in his vote, backed by Barroetaveña. The justices argued that in complex corruption cases linear traceability of illicit money cannot be required, and that establishing reasonable economic links is sufficient.

Judge Borinsky filed a partial dissent, considering that in some cases the situation of the assets inherited by the former president's children had not been sufficiently analyzed. Cristina Kirchner's defense, led by attorney Carlos Beraldi, described the decision as “an expression of creative law” and indicated that the case will be taken to the Supreme Court, although the pending appeals no longer suspend execution.

The six-year prison sentence and lifetime ban from holding public office against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner became final in June 2025 after being upheld by the Supreme Court. Since then, the former leader has been serving her sentence under house arrest at her apartment in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Constitución, on San José 1111 — one of the properties now included in the confiscation. The deadline for those convicted to jointly deposit the amount set had expired on August 13 of last year without any payment being made, prompting prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola to press for enforced execution. The set of assets also includes 46 vehicles and more than $4.6 million found in a safe deposit box in the name of Florencia Kirchner.