Former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner to face corruption charges

Buenos Aires: In an investigation called “notebooks of corruption”, former Argentine president and now a Senator Cristina Kirchner will be facing a public and oral trial for the corruption charges filed against her.

According to local media reports, the prosecutors stated that Kirchner led a graft scheme from 2003 to 2015 that diverted up to 160 million USD worth of commission from public works contracts to the officials of the senator and her late husband Nestor Kirchner’s government.

An embargo of 1,500 million pesos (USD$38 million) and an arrest warrant has been upheld by the court against her.

However, Kirchner has immunity from jail time because of her parliamentary protection as a national senator for Buenos Aires province but she can be prosecuted.

The “notebook of corruption” refers to the series of photocopied notebooks belonging to a former chauffeur at the Planning Ministry, Oscar Centeno. Centeno’s notebook contained the names, amounts and delivery times of alleged bribes paid by construction sector bosses to former Kirchner officials.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]