Vialidad Cause: Báez’s defense argued that the prosecution told a “story” without evidence
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The defense of businessman Lázaro Báez ruled out the existence of the crime of “illicit association” in the Vialidad case and argued that the prosecution “told a story that was already established in the media and politically but that was not supported by evidence,” in relation to the link between the owner of Austral Construcciones and the late former president Néstor Kirchner.
“A story was told that was already installed in the media and politically, but it was not supported by evidence. The prosecution asked us to believe that story,” warned lawyer Juan Villanueva at the beginning of his third day of arguments in the trial, before the Federal Oral Court two.
The “story” was based “on the fact that Lázaro was anointed or chosen to be transformed into a millionaire by the work and grace of Néstor Kirchner. They wanted to sell us the prosecutors that Néstor Kirchner appreciated his friend Lázaro so much that he threw his political life overboard and his republican principles,” he said.
“Everything so that Lázaro earns money”, he limited and considered that story “a story” in the face of the “clear impossibility of proving crimes” such as illicit association and fraudulent administration.
Báez’s defender, who will close his argument with a request for acquittal, reaffirmed before judges Jorge Gorini, Andrés Basso and Rodrígo Giménez Uriburu that “there was no fraudulent administration, there was no damage to the State either, the hypothesis of the Public Prosecutor’s Office Not only was it false, it is contrary to the laws of science and logic, and especially to the evidence of this debate.”
“The kilometers and kilometers of routes built were tested; something was never paid for if it had not been done,” he added.
Since there is no fraudulent administration, “much less can there be an illicit association dedicated to committing crimes,” he said.
In this context, he reiterated that the accusation against Báez in this trial “is nonexistent” and that “due process is violated.”
The third day of the allegation
The debate before the Federal Oral Court 2 resumed at 9:30 a.m. with the third and last day of pleadings for the defense of the detained businessman, who has a request for a 12-year prison sentence in the case for the alleged directing in his favor of national public works in Santa Cruz between 2003 and 2015.
The first two days of the allegation were dedicated to showing that, for the Báez defense, “he did not participate in any of the events described” by prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola, who accused him of fraudulent administration of the State through the alleged directing, overpricing and breaches in the works.
Báez has a request for 12 years in prison, the same sentence that the accusers demand for Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who, when exercising her right to defense during her argument, maintained that the prosecutors committed “prevarication.”
After the allegation of the defense of Báez, the statements of the legal representatives of four other defendants in the process will continue, including that of the former head of the National Directorate of Roads Nelson Periotti, with a prosecutor’s request for 10 years in prison.
The case discusses the alleged direction of 51 public works in the province of Santa Cruz in favor of Báez companies, in addition to alleged non-compliance and overpricing.
