Argentina’s ex-president Kirchner stays silent in court hearing
BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s former president Cristina Kirchner appeared in court on Monday for the third time in relation to the “corruption notebooks” scandal in which she is accused of accepting millions of dollars’ worth of bribes.
Kirchner, 66, refused to answer the judge’s questions but submitted several written statements.
Before entering the court in Buenos Aires, Kirchner posted several messages on social media in which she reiterated her claim to be the victim of “persecution and cruelty that only totalitarian governments dared to pursue at a time when the rule of law was suspended.”
The centre-left Peronist politician served successive terms as president from 2007-15, and polls say she is the best placed opposition figure to challenge President Mauricio Macri in October’s election.
This is one of eight cases brought against Kirchner by judge Claudio Bonadio.
Now a seNator, Kirchner said the multiple cases were “a type of continuous film. I have to admit that in cinematographic terms, this film deserves an Oscar for its originality.”
In the corruption notebooks case, Kirchner is accused of having received tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
The scandal revolves around the meticulous records kept by a government chauffeur, Oscar Centeno, of cash bribes he claims to have delivered from businessmen to government officials.
Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli has said a total of 160 million in bribes was handed over between 2005 and 2015.
Kirchner was previously ordered to be held in pre-trial detention over the case but, benefiting from partial parliamentary immunity, she is protected from imprisonment although not from prosecution.