Cristina Kirchner testifies in court in the Cuadernos corruption trial

Former two-time President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for corruption under house arrest, was summoned on Tuesday to testify in the trial of the so-called Causa Cuadernos (“Notebooks Case”). The judicial process, which began on August 1, 2018, involves hundreds of businesspeople and public officers who are accused of taking part in a bribery scheme revolving around public works during the governments of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner.  The existence of those irregular payments came to light after the discovery of eight notebooks in which the bribes were meticulously recorded by the chauffeur of a high-ranking government official. “It’s a case of political persecution,” said Kirchner in her statement, accusing the late judge Claudio Bonadío and Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli, who were in charge of the initial investigation, of arresting “a wave of businessmen to testify against [her].” “They flipped over my home over this case. So where’s the money?” Kirchner said. “How, when and where did all these things mentioned happen?,” she asked. “What do they mean when they say that we stole the equivalent of the country’s gross domestic product? Have you seen how I live? How my children live?,” she questioned. She went on to describe the case as “rotten” and accused sitting President Javier Milei of “violating the Constitution” when he called for her imprisonment in his start-of-the-year speech in Congress. Kirchner also refused to take questions from the judges. “When you call Stornelli to the stand, or when you call Mauricio Macri regarding the wind farms, I’ll testify,” she said, in reference to an alleged corruption case involving the former president. “There isn’t a single investigation looking into the money borrowed from the International Monetary Fund. The day you call (Economy minister) Toto Caputo to the stand, I’ll answer questions. Until then, I’m not going to be part of this circus,” she concluded. What is the Causa Cuadernos? The investigation focuses on an alleged scheme to collect illegal funds linked to public works and energy contracts. A total of 85 people have been charged with criminal conspiracy, including former officials and business executives. The key to the case are the notebooks allegedly written by Oscar Centeno, who worked as a driver for Roberto Baratta, the right hand of former Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido (2003-2015). In them, he kept track of what he allegedly saw while working for Baratta, including how they had him receive and deliver bribes from construction businesspeople to be awarded public works. Kirchner kicked off a round of testimonies that will include other 20 former officials allegedly involved in the illegal fundraising, two former drivers, and 65 business executives accused of paying those bribes. In addition to Cristina Kirchner, those summoned for the first day of proceedings included former Planning Minister Julio De Vido and his former deputy Roberto Baratta.