Former Lázaro Báez Executive Avoids Trial Through Community Service

A former executive of a company associated with businessman Lázaro Báez has been granted a suspension of proceedings in a corruption case, allowing her to avoid a public trial in exchange for performing community service. The decision by the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber's Room IV, reached by a divided vote, benefits Myriam Elizabeth Costilla, who served as a director of Báez's company Kank y Costilla SA.

The majority ruling, supported by judges Mariano Borinsky and Diego Barroetaveña, upheld a previous decision by the Federal Oral Court 2. Judge Borinsky argued that the decision was a reasoned application of existing law to the proven circumstances of the case. However, Judge Gustavo Hornos dissented, advocating for Costilla to proceed to a public trial alongside other defendants.

This case is part of the second phase of the "Vialidad" (Highway) corruption investigation, which previously saw Cristina Kirchner sentenced to six years in prison. Costilla's benefit involves her commitment to maintain a fixed residence, submit to the supervision of the Directorate of Control and Assistance for Penal Execution, and complete two years of community service, dedicating four hours per week to the Hogar de Ancianos Pablo VI in Comodoro Rivadavia.

Both the prosecution, led by Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola, and the Financial Information Unit (UIF), acting as the plaintiff, had opposed the suspension of the trial. They accuse Costilla of participating in a state corruption scheme between January 2007 and August 2013. Prosecutors allege that, in her capacity as president of Kank y Costilla SA, she facilitated the systematic diversion of public funds through fraudulent means related to public road construction contracts, despite prohibitions against companies within the same conglomerate bidding on the same tenders.

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constitutes a reasoned derivation of current law with application of the proven circumstances of the case.