BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner went on trial on Thursday on charges of bribery tied to public works contracts awarded during her administration.
The high-profile corruption case – known as the “Notebooks” scandal – accuses Fernandez and 86 other ex-officials of participating in an illicit network that allegedly received bribes from businessmen in exchange for lucrative government contracts. She has denied the charges.
“Today another show trial begins,” the former president said on X. “They need to keep the judicial operetta alive to continue applying pressure and, above all, distract attention.”
Fernandez, a polarizing leftist who served two presidential terms from 2007 to 2015, as well as stints as vice president, senator and first lady, has been under house arrest since June following a separate fraud conviction.
Prosecutors began reading the indictment Thursday, marking the first phase of a trial expected to continue through the end of the year. A final resolution could take years because of expected appeals.
The case emerged in 2018 after notebooks kept by the driver of a former official surfaced, detailing alleged cash deliveries and meetings. Witnesses have implicated both Fernandez and her late husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, who was in office from 2003–07, as central figures in the scheme.
Among the defendants are former ministers and executives from major companies in construction, energy, and transport. Several business leaders have testified as “repentants” in exchange for judicial leniency, revealing a system of kickbacks allegedly used to finance the Peronist movement.
The trial is being conducted virtually via Zoom.
The proceedings follow a political setback for the left in Argentina. Last week, President Javier Milei’s libertarian party secured a victory in midterm legislative elections, strengthening his mandate to continue sweeping economic reforms.
(Reporting by Walter Bianchi; writing by Lucinda Elliott and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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