Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was charged by a prosecutor with trying to cover up the alleged involvement of Iranian officials in the country’s worst terrorist attack. Now a judge must decide whether to pursue the case.
In a document filed to federal court, Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita formally accused Fernandez, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, lawmaker Andres Larroque and other government supporters of trying to remove Iranian officials from Interpol lists in a 2013 accord, in exchange for trade preferences. Pollicita’s 62-page statement was posted on the prosecutor general’s website.
Pollicita said he based his accusations on allegations first drafted by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot to the head on Jan. 18, a day before he was scheduled to defend his investigation before lawmakers. Argentina has been roiled by the death of Nisman and the allegations, with the investigation into his death unable to determine whether it was a suicide or a murder.
“This could be a seismic change for Argentina’s political environment,” said Carl Meacham, Americas program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “You have an economic crisis on the horizon and you marry that with a political crisis, it could be a disaster for Argentina.”
The benchmark Merval stock index gained 2.7 percent to 9,570.20 at 3:25 p.m. local time. Argentina’s peso was little changed at 8.6827 per dollar.
Fernandez, 61, has denied the accusations against her and said last month Nisman may have been murdered in order to sully the image of her government. Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernandez has called Nisman’s report “flimsy” and without any legal merit.
While Fernandez, whose term ends in December, can be investigated and sentenced while president, it’s up to Congress to remove her immunity through an impeachment process, according to Martin Galli Basualdo, a lawyer at Buenos Aires-based Cassagne Abogados. Fernandez’s Victory Front alliance holds majorities in both houses of Congress.
Nisman was appointed by Fernandez’s late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, in 2004 to investigate the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people.
*Daniel Cancel in Buenos Aires at dcancel@bloomberg.net; Charlie Devereux in Buenos Aires at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net
