In Argentina, a court ordered the confiscation of nearly $500 million worth of property from former president Cristina Kirchner and others also convicted of corruption.

Cristina Kirchner was found guilty in late 2022 of fraud against public administration, and sentenced to six years in prison and life ineligibility, a sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court in June.

An Argentine court has ordered the confiscation of real estate and assets worth a total of $480 million, belonging to former president Cristina Kirchner, her family and others convicted in a public procurement fraud case that saw the Peronist leader serving time in prison. In a decision taken on Tuesday, November 18, which was obtained by AFP on Wednesday, the federal court in Buenos Aires ruled that this confiscation was compensation.

In total, 20 Kirchner family properties, in Buenos Aires and other provinces, were targeted: one property in Cristina’s name and 19 properties since inherited by her children, Maximo and Florencia. The court also ordered the forfeiture of property and assets associated with other inmates, among them a business manager, Lazaro Baez, whose justice is seeking the forfeiture of more than 80 separate properties. Apart from Cristina Kirchner, eight people were found guilty, including a former Minister of Planning, a former civil servant and a businessman.

The so-called “Vialidad” event, after the road-building organization, concerned the awarding of public contracts in the province of Santa Cruz, a political stronghold of the Kirchners. The former president was found guilty in late 2022 of fraud against public administration, and sentenced to six years in prison and life ineligibility, a sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court in June. At 72, he can serve his sentence at home, with an electronic bracelet, in his Buenos Aires apartment.