The Federal Oral Court 7 decided to release Richard James, the former Secretary of Transportation of Kirchnerism who was detained in pretrial detention for being one of the defendants in the Cuadernos Case. The former official He had been detained for other reasons since April 2016 and has several convictions for corruption on his record. There are several former Kirchnerista officials convicted of corruption, the only detainee is Jaime. But he will be only for a few more days.
The judges German Castelli, Fernando Canero and Enrique Mendez Signori determined that Jaime’s pretrial detention should end next March 18th after it was renewed several times. The judges assured, in a resolution to which infobaethat Jaime’s state of health changed the situation regarding his detention.
Judge Méndez Signori made reference to medical reports added to the file and established that: “Corroborating the exposed circumstances, the existence of a delicate health condition on the part of Jaime that warrants the moderation of precautionary measures, since it is clear that, beyond the chronic pathologies that the named person suffers, over time a situation of deterioration of his health and general clinical condition has been presenting ”. Jaime is being held in the Ezeiza prison, which depends on the Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF).
As can be seen from the resolution on March 13, the SPF had sent a report in which it indicated that Jaime presented essential arterial hypertension, who is a former smoker, has subclinical hypothyroidism, hyperglycemia, a benign lung nodule, lobulated basal cell carcinoma, and reactive depression. In addition, they detailed the characteristics of these conditions and the corresponding treatments.
Castelli’s joined Méndez Signori’s vote. Meanwhile, Judge Canero pointed out that “the worsening of Jaime’s state of health has been ostensibly accredited” but that the former official should continue to be detained with house arrest. The decision not to extend the pretrial detention was voted on by the three judges, but one of them voted for house arrest. The majority determined that Jaime will soon be able to walk down the street.
As of March 18, when Jaime’s release becomes effective, the judges imposed the following conditions:
to. The defendant’s promise to submit to the procedure and not to hinder the investigation;
b. The obligation to notify this headquarters of any change of address, as well as any circumstance by virtue of which you must be absent from it for more than 48 hours or more than 70 km;
c. The prohibition to leave the country without prior authorization;
d. The delivery of the passport that you have in your possession through the defense – in case you have said document – and prohibition of issuing new ones in your name;
and. The placement of a GPS monitoring device – Assistance Program for Persons Under Electronic Surveillance”
The prosecutor of the Cuadernos Case, Fabiana Leonhad ruled according to what Jaime’s defense said about the state of health of the former official: ”Elementary humanitarian reasons cannot be neglected that inspire the institute and that, in order to safeguard the inalienable right to life and health, enable the need to consider -after pertinent reports- the granting of a measure of moderation; which, however, was always held in subsidiary consideration by this Attorney General”. The prosecutor had proposed that Jaime continue in pretrial detention. León took advantage of the opportunity to rule on Jaime’s preventive detention to criticize the TOF 7 for the delays in initiating the trial for the Cuadernos Case.
Jaime was sentenced in six times for corruption cases. The first conviction was in 2013 for attempting to steal evidence in a raid. The second was in 2015 when he pleaded guilty and agreed to a sentence for having collected bribes from the companies TBA, which operated buses and trains, and TEBA, which has the concession for the Retiro Bus Terminal. The two companies were under the control of the National Transportation Secretariat headed by Jaime, at the request of his friend Néstor Kirchner, without having any knowledge on the subject. Those first two sentences are firm.
He was sentenced for his responsibility in the Tragedy of Once: this ruling is pending review by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the Cassation imposed a sentence of six years in prison. In April 2022, he received two sentences in the same trial: for having illegally enriched himself -through succulent bribes- and another for having committed fraudulent administration against the State and collected bribes. This second conviction is related to the million-dollar purchase of junk trains from Spain and Portugal. For the crime of fraudulent administration in that trial he was convicted along with Julio DeVido, who was Minister of Planning during Kirchnerism
The last sentence handed down against Jaime was in September 2022 because he had agreed to a bribe with the Alstom company if the promised and never carried out project of the project was carried out. Bullet train that was going to unite Buenos Aires with Rosario and Córdoba. Not all the sentences that Jaime has to his credit have yet been made up, so it is not known how much he will be definitively sentenced to.
But, in addition to the convictions, the former Secretary of Transportation, who was in office between 2003 and 2009, has other corruption cases open. One of them is for suspicion of paying bribes in the contract for the burying of the Sarmiento Railroad, which began in his management, and the Odebrecht company distributed bribes throughout the continent.
He was lord and master of the Transportation sector during the governments of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner for 2,226 days. When the preventive detention ends on March 18, Jaime will have spent 2,541 days in detention. He was the first former Kirchner official to be imprisoned for corruption cases and the last to be released from prison.
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