A judicial ruling benefited Guillermo Moreno: the inflation index falsification case is considered prescribed

A significant legal development in Argentina could see former Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno escape punishment for allegedly falsifying inflation data during the Kirchner administration. The Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber has ruled that the case against Moreno and former INDEC official Beatriz Paglieri has expired due to the passage of time.

Moreno and Paglieri had been sentenced in August 2024 to three years of conditional imprisonment and six years of disqualification from public office. They were found guilty of abuse of authority and destruction or inutilization of public records, specifically for manipulating the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data in the second half of 2007. Paglieri, as the director of the CPI, was responsible for compiling the indicator.

However, the Cassation Chamber, with judges Alejandro Slokar and Mariano Borinsky voting in favor, determined that the statute of limitations had expired. Judge Javier Carbajo dissented from this view. While the Cassation Chamber's decision directs the trial court to rule accordingly, it does not formally declare the action prescribed or acquit the defendants. The case now rests with the Supreme Court of Justice, which will make the ultimate determination.