The government of President Néstor Kirchner doesn't only want to reactivate corruption cases gathering dust in judicial archives; it is also planning to initiate civil proceedings to recover as much of the embezzled and illbegotten funds as possible.
The task ahead is enormous. The anticorruption office of the justice ministry has 814 cases of alleged corruption on file for which it has requested criminal prosecution. Most of these cases involved officials of the Menem governments (1989-99). Only 49 of those cases have so far been taken to trial, and there have been no convictions. Justice minister Gustavo Béliz says, `These are very negative levels as regards the efficiency of the judicial punitive system.'
He adds, `We are not only seeking to jail those who stole or got rich unduly at the cost of the state, but will also take the corresponding civil actions so that the corrupt return what they stole.' The prize is attractive: the federal audit office reckons that corruption in the mid-1990s was milking about US$5bn of public funds a year.
Supreme court & rights case
The image of the judiciary has also been made an issue by the supreme court, in a sharp response to foreign minister Rafael Bielsa's statement that it was about time the court assumed its responsibilities and ruled on the Alfonsín laws barring prosecution of human rights violators. In a brief communiqué, the court said it was aware of the `significant transcendence' attributed by public opinion to this case, but that it would `continue in a timeframe the court itself deems necessary [and] without any kind of pressure.'
End of preview - This article contains approximately 283 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
