Ex-Argentine leader Fernandez indicted in central bank case

Record ID: 103748

  • Title: Ex-Argentine leader Fernandez indicted in central bank case
  • Date: 13th May 2016
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF ARGENTINE CENTRAL BANK VARIOUS OF FORMER ARGENTINE CENTRAL BANK PRESIDENT, ALEJANDRO VANOLLI, SPEAKING IN CENTRAL BANK HALL OF CEREMONIES VARIOUS OF FORMER FINANCE MINISTER, AXEL KICILLOF, TOGETHER WITH FERNANDEZ IN CEREMONY IN THE ARGENTINE STOCK EXCHANGE, LISTENING TO A SPEECH BY STOCK EXCHANGE DIRECTORS FERNANDEZ LISTENING TO SPEECH
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2016 23:32
  • Keywords: Argentina Cristina Fernandez Kirchner fraud
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • City: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA0034HN86YR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was indicted on Friday (May 13) over accusations that she oversaw irregularities in the central bank's sale of U.S. dollars in the futures market while she was in office.
    Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio charged Fernandez, her former economy minister Axel Kicillof and former central bank chief Alejandro Vanoli with "unfaithful administration to the detriment of public administration," according to court papers.
    The ruling, which gives a green light for prosecutors to put Fernandez on trial, may be appealed. There was no arrest warrant.
    Fernandez is revered by millions for the generous welfare programmes she offered while in office and reviled by others for economic policies such as nationalizing businesses and placing heavy-handed controls on the economy.
    "I have the people's approval, which they gave me throughout 12 years and in two consecutive elections," Fernandez said to the public outside federal courts in April this year.
    The accusation is that the central bank took billions of dollars worth of money-losing positions in the futures market ahead of a widely expected devaluation of the Argentine peso.
    Fernandez, who heads a large faction of the Peronist party, stepped down in December at the end of her second term.
    Her successor, Mauricio Macri, won the presidency on a platform of ditching currency controls that he said were strangling the economy. Since lifting the controls in mid-December the peso has weakened by about 30 percent to 14.1575 per U.S. dollar.
    The transactions referred to in the case involved $5 billion to $17 billion (£3.4 billion to £11.8 billion), according to court papers published by Argentina's Judicial Information Center (CIJ).
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