Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernandez Says Court Corruption Case Based on 'Lies'

Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has noted during her court defense that the corruption allegations against her were a "staged fable" created to "drag me by the hair to this trial."

Al Jazeera reported that Fernandez de Kirchner linked the judicial proceedings to an assassination attempt on her life earlier this month. She then suggested that some of the people behind the assassination attempt against her have yet to be apprehended.

Fernandez de Kirchner said she realized that there may be something else behind all this, adding that starting September 1, she believed it was all about stigmatizing, banishing, denigrating, and defaming her.

The Argentine vice president is charged with leading "an illicit organization" and "aggregated fraudulent administration." The case covers the period between 2003 and 2015, wherein she and her husband, Nestor Kirchner, led the country.

Fernandez de Kirchner allegedly illegally helped direct state funds into public roadwork contracts that were awarded to companies owned by an associate of the Kirchners in the southern province of Santa Cruz, the political stronghold of Fernandez and Kirchner.

Corruption Case Vs. Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

Fernandez de Kirchner insisted that she is a victim of "judicial persecution" filed by her successor as president, Mauricio Macri, a conservative business tycoon.

The Argentine vice president said that prosecutors and judges "play soccer on the estate" of former president Macri and nobody has thought of it as strange, according to a La Prensa Latina report.

She is accused of criminal conspiracy and fraud in relation to 51 construction contracts in Santa Cruz. The businessman involved was Lazaro Baez.

Andalou Agency noted that the vice president and her husband were elected by the people, adding that they cannot be "an illicit association."

Federal prosecutors have been pushing for a 12-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban from holding public office.

Some of the close allies of the Kirchner family were already convicted of corruption.

Argentina Vice President Assassination Attempt

A man had been part of the crowd and went toward Fernandez de Kirchner, pointed a gun on her face, and pulled the trigger. However, the gun did not fire off.

President Alberto Fernandez called the assassination attempt one of the most serious events in the country during an address to the nation hours later, as reported by The New York Times.

At least three people have been arrested in connection with Fernandez de Kirchner's attempted assassination. The accused gunman, 35-year-old Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, is now facing an attempted murder case, along with his girlfriend Brenda Uliarte, 23.

Some appeared to believe that Fernadez's life was never in danger, suggesting that the entire assassination attempt was an "elaborate hoax."

One online survey noted that more than half said they believed the attack was staged, out of the 1,650 Argentines who participated in the survey.

A reality-television start who changed her career as a right-wing state lawmaker in Argentina, Amalia Granata, wrote on Twitter that "it was all staged" and "what a show!"

The conspiracy theories were reportedly triggered by a long record of "deep distrust in Argentine authorities," which was rooted in widespread irregularities in government economic data and unsolved deaths and crimes.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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