Kueider Case: San Martín court declares itself incompetent and transfers money-laundering case to federal justice in Buenos Aires
The Federal Oral Criminal Court No. 5 of San Martín ruled on 7 October that it lacks territorial jurisdiction to try the money-laundering case linked to Kueider and ordered it transferred to the Federal Justice of the City of Buenos Aires.
San Martín court relinquishes jurisdiction in money-laundering case linked to Kueider
Federal Oral Criminal Court No. 5 of San Martín ruled on 7 October that it lacks territorial jurisdiction to try the case involving alleged money laundering, falsification of documents and other manoeuvres linked to a corruption scheme in which former senator Edgardo Kueider and Iara Guinsel Costa are named, according to analisisdigital.com.ar. The file was transferred to the Federal Justice of the City of Buenos Aires.
The decision does not acquit any of the accused nor invalidate the investigation conducted. It resolves exclusively a matter of jurisdiction: which court should try the facts that the Prosecution ultimately brought to trial.
The accused and the imputed offences
The proceedings involve Juan Carlos Nogueras, Ernesto Javier Rubel, Rodolfo Daniel González, Adriana Cecilia Crucitta, Gabriela Patricia Saint Pierre and Débora María Ferreyra, together with the companies Nopor Service SA, Lectus SA, VIA SPN Logística SA, Felsir Biotecnología SRL and Vijusa Industrial Argentina SA. Kueider and Guinsel Costa also appear mentioned in the accusation, although their procedural status remained linked to other proceedings, including an extradition process.
The accusation describes an organisation which, according to the Prosecution, carried out operations over several years designed to give a legitimate appearance to money of illicit origin. Among the facts imputed are real estate transactions in Paraná for more than 41 million pesos, the acquisition of a Chevrolet Trailblazer vehicle in Concordia, movements of money through bank accounts and the use of commercial companies as structures to conceal the origin of the funds.
The Prosecution also imputes alleged falsely documented loans, allegedly forged balance sheets and the use of private instruments deemed false. The precedent offences identified include bribery, negotiations incompatible with the exercise of public functions and violation of the duties of a public official.
The territorial argument that tips the balance
The judges reconstructed the accusation by mapping the places where the concrete facts submitted to trial were alleged to have occurred. The real estate transactions were alleged to have taken place in Paraná. The purchase of the vehicle, in Concordia. Part of the documentary manoeuvres was prepared in an accounting office in Quilmes. The bank accounts used for the circulation of money were linked to a branch in that city in Buenos Aires Province.
The piece that ultimately tips the balance towards Buenos Aires is the corporate structure of Betail. The company had its legal address there. Its offices were searched in that jurisdiction. There, corporate acts took place which the accusation considers relevant to the case. And before the General Inspection of Justice of Buenos Aires those acts were registered and publicised.
The territorial route reconstructed by the judgment spans Paraná, Concordia, Quilmes, Berazategui and Buenos Aires. San Martín does not appear among the places where, according to the accusation, any of the facts that are to be tried occurred. That is the central point that determines the ruling.
The limit to connexity in large corruption cases
The judgment establishes a limit to one of the most frequently used tools in major corruption and economic crime investigations: connexity. The judges maintain that the need to investigate a scheme as a whole does not permit a case to remain before a court which is not territorially competent to try the concrete facts brought to trial.
The decision contrasts with the criteria sustained during the investigation stage. The Federal Justice of San Martín had at that time rejected motions intended to move the case to another jurisdiction, arguing that the facts could not be analysed as isolated episodes. The Federal Court of Appeals of San Martín had confirmed that position.
The link to the ENERSA case
The procedural history that brought the case to San Martín is more complex. According to analisisdigital.com.ar, the file was related to another broader investigation known as the "ENERSA case", which investigates alleged improper payments linked to the Securitas Group and officials of the state energy company in Entre Ríos.
During that broader investigation, the headquarters of Securitas—located in Munro, Municipality of Vicente López—was identified as the place from where operations were alleged to have been organised and coordinated that later developed at different points in the country. That argument served for years to keep the case in the jurisdiction of San Martín.
Once the accusation was delimited and the portion that was brought to trial separated, the judges concluded that that original procedural link is not sufficient to sustain jurisdiction. The case continues its course, but from now on under the purview of the Federal Justice of the City of Buenos Aires.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires