WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Senator Jim Risch (R-ID), Ranking Member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Marco Rubio (R-FL), in sending a letter to President Joe Biden urging his Administration to take immediate steps to hold accountable Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner, the former vice president of Argentina, and her family members for acts of significant corruption.
“Fernández de Kirchner, who served as president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, is a convicted kleptocrat who stole billions from state coffers and enabled malign actors like China and Iran to deepen their corrupt influence in a critical U.S. ally, Argentina,” the Senators wrote. “On December 6, 2022, Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty of overseeing and profiting over $1 billion from fraudulently issued government contracts for public infrastructure during her time as president. Fernández de Kirchner was sentenced by an Argentina federal court to six years in prison and to “special disqualification for life” from seeking public office.”
“We urge you take immediate steps to use the tools available under Presidential Proclamation 7750 and Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related programs Appropriations Act to hold Fernández de Kirchner and her family members accountable for their involvement in acts of significant corruption,” the Senators concluded.
A copy of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear President Biden,
We write to request that you take immediate steps to hold accountable Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner, the former vice president of Argentina, and her family members for acts of significant corruption. It is critical that you continue to strengthen bilateral relations with Argentina, including by countering mutual security threats posed by corruption.
Fernández de Kirchner, who served as president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, is a convicted kleptocrat who stole billions from state coffers and enabled malign actors like China and Iran to deepen their corrupt influence in a critical U.S. ally, Argentina.
On December 6, 2022, Fernández de Kirchner was found guilty of overseeing and profiting over $1 billion from fraudulently issued government contracts for public infrastructure during her time as president. Fernández de Kirchner was sentenced by an Argentina federal court to six years in prison and to “special disqualification for life” from seeking public office.
This week, the Argentine federal appeals court reopened the “Route of the K money” laundering probe against Fernández de Kirchner. One of her close associates, Lázaro Báez, was already convicted to 10 years in prison for this case.
In September, Argentina’s Federal Criminal Cassation Court, the nation’s higher criminal court, reopened two other notorious corruption cases against Fernández de Kirchner and ordered oral trial proceedings to be held. The first is the ‘Hotesur-Los Sauces,’ a corruption probe implicating Fernández de Kirchner and nearly 30 others, including her adult children Máximo Carlos and Florencia Kirchner, for using their family businesses for money laundering, illegal association, and receipt of illegal payments for public works projects issued during her presidency.
In the second case, ‘Memorandum of Understanding with Iran,’ Fernández de Kirchner is indicted by the Federal Criminal Cassation Court for colluding with Iran to cover up its role in the July 18, 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina Jewish community center – the gravest terrorist attack in Argentine history. Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman was shot and killed in 2015, a day before he was due to present highly credible evidence revealing Fernández de Kirchner and her associates’ roles in the cover up. This evidence included transfers of millions of dollars from a major Iranian bank account to accounts held by her family in Cyprus, the Seychelles, and the Cayman Islands.
These cases took place as Argentina was driven into bankruptcy and hyperinflation under Fernández de Kirchner’s presidency, enabling major financial transactions between Argentina’s government and China, Russia, and Venezuela. This included nebulous agreements for public works contracts that compromise both the United States’ and Argentina’s security, including a deep-space station in Argentina controlled by the Chinese military.
We urge you take immediate steps to use the tools available under Presidential Proclamation 7750 and Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related programs Appropriations Act to hold Fernández de Kirchner and her family members accountable for their involvement in acts of significant corruption.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
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