Brazil & Southern Cone - 26 October 2004

Argentina's President Néstor Kirchner has discovered over the last month that he cannot call time on his battle to eliminate corruption just because it suits him. Just when the president was happy to settle for seeing four members of the supreme court expelled on charges of abuse of power, the chamber of deputies has started impeachment proceedings against a fifth judge, Antonio Boggiano.

Unfinished business
On 7 October the chamber of deputies' commission of political justice charged Boggiano with 11 cases of misconduct. These were the same cases they had brought against the previous four judges to have been forced out: Julio Nazareno, Eduardo Moliné O'Connor, Guillermo López and Adolfo Vázquez. All five belonged to the so-called 'automatic majority' bloc within the court that was loyal to former president Carlos Menem and was renowned for corruption.

While Kirchner was the driving force behind these previous prosecutions, however, he had made no noises about Boggiano and when the impeachment was announced he was far from happy. Kirchner does not want Boggiano to leave for a number of reasons. First, because Kirchner has already had difficulty finding replacements for the judges he has already forced out. Only two new judges have so far taken their seats on the court, with the result that the body has not been working at its full capacity. Kirchner will not relish having to find a fifth new judge. Secondly, the president views Boggiano as different from the judges whom he has forced out. Boggiano is a respected academic who has strong links to the church, and Kirchner believes he could be a very useful ally.

The president's worries are of no relevance to the deputies involved in the impeachment proceedings, however. They have said that not to go after Boggiano would represent major negligence on their part, regardless of how inconvenient the case might prove for the government, given he is as responsible as his now notorious former allies.

However, the government might yet be spared the hassle of finding a replacement. Justice Minister Horacio Rosatti admitted on 27 September that the government is analysing far-reaching reforms to the supreme court. It is chiefly is considering two major questions: how to reduce the number of cases the court has to deal with, and whether to reduce the size of the supreme court. It is this first issue that is regarded as the most important, however. The supreme court has long complained that it spends far too much time dealing with cases which could be dealt with by lower courts. The government wants to reform the judicial system so that the supreme court becomes the equivalent of the constitutional courts present in a number of Latin American countries, leaving it free to deal with major issues such as the scrapping of amnesties for those responsible for crimes against humanity committed during the 1976-1983 military government.