Former President Alberto Fernández made his first move in the case in which he is being investigated for alleged embezzlement of public funds, accused of leading a “criminal organization that would have operated in the contracting of insurance by various state entities” from a DNU that he signed imposing such an obligation.
This Wednesday, upon appearing for the first time, he challenged and asked to remove federal judge Julián Ercolini. The former president’s letter was signed by lawyer Mariana Barbitta, whom he designated as her defender in the case in which he is accused.
The former president’s recusal and request for the judge’s removal is based on “fear of bias.” Now it is Ercolini himself who must first analyze the presentation, but the final word on the objection will be the Federal Chamber to confirm it or not in the face of the investigation.
During his presidency, Alberto Fernández was critical of Judge Julián Ercolini for the investigations he led against his then vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, pointing him out as part of the “lawfare” between sectors of the judiciary and the opposition to harm Kirchnerism.
Days ago, Judge Ercolini ordered the former president to present a defense lawyer or appoint one ex officio after months of investigation in which he was accused and where an inhibition was placed on his assets.
The suspicion about the former president is that with the signing of the DNU he benefited insurance brokers who mediated with Nación Seguros and the contracting of policies from various organizations, specifically the ANSES and the Ministry of Security, among others, which would have given the benefit of millionaire commissions.
The case was initiated by an internal audit of the current government of Javier Milei in ANSES, which detected the contracting of insurance through Banco Nación with the intermediation of “brokers”.
In the case of state organizations, Judge Ercolini aims to determine why private intermediaries intervened in an operation that, at first glance, does not seem to need them.
The judge also investigates why Nación Seguros outsourced to other companies the service that, by 2021 decree of the former president, state agencies were obliged to contract with the official bank’s insurer.
On the periphery of Alberto Fernández they explain that the decision was adopted as a political measure to “make sure that the dollars did not go away” through multinational insurance companies.
Among the brokers appears Héctor Martínez Sosa, husband of Alberto Fernández’s former private secretary, María Cantero.
