Shared Dreams Verdict Against Schoklenders, De Vido and José López Due Next Week

The verdict in the “Shared Dreams” case will come next Friday at the Comodoro Py federal courts, after a trial over alleged irregularities in a social housing program run by the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m., when the nine defendants will have the opportunity to make their final statements. Judges Adriana Palliotti, Daniel Obligado and Adrián Grünberg will then set the time for the verdict.

Federal prosecutor Diego Velasco has requested six-year prison sentences and lifetime bans from public office for former Planning Minister Julio De Vido, former Public Works Secretary José López, former officials Sergio and Pablo Schoklender, and Abel Fatala. He accused them of aggravated fraudulent administration involving the public administration.

Velasco requested four-year sentences for Daniel Nasif, former head of the Santiago del Estero Housing Institute; Silvia Nasif, a former official in the Cabinet Office of Santiago del Estero; and former Federal Planning Ministry officials Carlos Castellano and Claudio Freidin. He also sought the confiscation of 206 million pesos, representing the allegedly diverted funds at the time, adjusted for inflation when any conviction becomes final. The prosecution asked that the money go to social housing programs. The Financial Information Unit requested the same penalties and confiscation.

In his closing argument, Velasco said, “It has been demonstrated how a criminal scheme, devised and organized from the national state in collusion with those responsible for the Shared Dreams project of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Foundation, allowed Sergio and Pablo Schoklender, as attorneys-in-fact, to obtain public works contracts directly.” The contracts involved social housing and hospitals in provinces aligned with the national government at the time.

The defendants’ lawyers rejected the accusations, requested acquittals and argued that the case had become time-barred. The trial examines the alleged diversion of 200 million pesos from nearly 900 million pesos that the government of Cristina Kirchner sent to the foundation between 2008 and 2011 for housing projects in Buenos Aires, Santiago del Estero, Rosario and Ezeiza. Hebe de Bonafini, who led the foundation at the time, had been charged in the case.

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It has been demonstrated how a criminal scheme, devised and organized from the national state in collusion with those responsible for the Shared Dreams project of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Foundation, allowed Sergio and Pablo Schoklender, as attorneys-in-fact, to obtain public works contracts directly.