Argentina’s Supreme Court has unanimously rejected an extraordinary appeal filed by the legal team of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, effectively upholding her conviction for corruption in the high-profile “Vialidad” case. The ruling makes final the sentence of six years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office, issued for her role as a co-author of an aggravated fraudulent scheme against the state.

The decision, delivered on Monday, June 10, was signed by Justices Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti. The court found no evidence of constitutional violations or judicial misconduct in the rulings of the lower courts. It did not reexamine the merits of the case but confirmed that the judicial process followed due legal procedures, thereby closing the final legal chapter in what is considered Argentina’s most emblematic corruption case involving a former head of state.

A conviction previously upheld by the Federal Criminal Cassation Court

In December 2022, Fernández de Kirchner was convicted by the Federal Oral Criminal Court No. 2—comprised of Judges Jorge Gorini, Andrés Basso, and Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu—for her role in directing public works contracts to businessman Lázaro Báez, a close associate, during her presidency and that of her late husband Néstor Kirchner (2003–2015). The scheme involved 51 road construction contracts in the province of Santa Cruz.

The verdict was upheld in September 2023 by the Federal Criminal Cassation Court, which described the case as a “federal corruption crime.” The court determined that Fernández de Kirchner had used state resources “for personal purposes,” violating her duties as head of state and orchestrating a structure that diverted public funds to private interests.

Following that ruling, her legal team appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing procedural irregularities. However, the court concluded that there were no substantial errors warranting intervention.

The Court’s limited role: ensuring due process

Argentina’s Supreme Court clarified that its role is not to judge the case again but to ensure that due process was followed and that constitutional guarantees were not violated. The justices stated that the conviction was “based on sufficient evidence” and that the trial respected “the rules of the adversarial criminal process.”

“The participation of the trial judges was not challenged in a timely manner, and no credible claims of judicial bias were presented,” the court wrote in its ruling, which closes the judicial trajectory of the Vialidad case.

The Vialidad case and its political fallout

The Vialidad investigation has become one of the most significant corruption cases in Argentina’s recent history. It found that during her presidency, a systematic scheme was established to steer public works contracts in Santa Cruz to Báez’s companies—many of which went unfinished or were marred by severe cost overruns.

Fernández de Kirchner has consistently denied the charges, calling the investigation a politically motivated “lawfare” campaign. Nonetheless, multiple courts ruled that there was sufficient documentary and testimonial evidence to convict her.

With the Supreme Court’s decision, Fernández de Kirchner is now permanently barred from holding public office and faces a prison sentence that remains to be enforced. Her actual imprisonment is pending a separate procedural phase before the original trial court.

A historic precedent in Argentine democracy

The Supreme Court’s ruling sets a historic precedent: it is the first time an Argentine former president has received a final and unappealable conviction for corruption. The decision underscores a shift in Argentina’s political and judicial landscape, reinforcing public demands for accountability and transparency in a country long marred by political scandal and institutional distrust.