Top court overturns ex-president Alberto Fernández’s indictment in insurance case

A court has annulled the indictment of former president Alberto Fernández in a case involving alleged corruption in the awarding of insurance policies taken out by government departments during his single term in office from 2019 to 2023.

The Federal Court of Criminal Cassation, the country’s highest criminal court after the Supreme Court, overturned a ruling issued by an appeals court in November 2025 on procedural grounds.

The ruling was issued by Chamber IV of the court, with judges Mariano Borinsky and Javier Carbajo in the majority and Gustavo Hornos dissenting. 

The court also ordered the lower appeals court to issue a new ruling.

The judges based their ruling on the fact that the appeals chamber upheld Fernández’s indictment despite the prosecutor at that stage having requested the case’s dismissal for lack of merit, arguing there was insufficient evidence. 

Fernández’s defence had similarly argued that his right to due process had been violated, including the failure to hear key witnesses proposed by his legal team. This means there was no adequate evidentiary basis to proceed with criminal charges.

The Federal Cassation Court also lifted two measures imposed on Fernández – an asset freeze of more than 14.6 billion pesos, equivalent to around US$10.3 million at the official exchange rate, and a travel ban.

However, this is not the end of the veteran Peronist’s legal woes. The 67-year-old former president is awaiting trial over alleged gender-based violence against his former partner, journalist Fabiola Yáñez.

Allegations

In the insurance case, Fernández had been under investigation for the offence of engaging in business transactions incompatible with the exercise of public office, within an investigation into an alleged scheme to steer state insurance contracts towards certain intermediaries.

The case centres on alleged insurance contracts for various state agencies and departments arranged through intermediaries who charged commissions, despite the policies being available through direct contracting. 
The case involves policies taken out with Nación Seguros SA, the insurance arm of state-owned Banco Nación, which Fernández selected to cover government departments against various types of risk.

According to the accusation, commissions paid to intermediaries in contracts between public bodies and Nación Seguros totalled around 3.36 billion pesos. Prosecutors allege that Héctor Martínez Sosa, a broker and personal friend of the former president, accounted for nearly 60 percent of those commissions.

Under a decree signed by Fernández himself, state insurance coverage was provided by the insurer of the state-owned Banco Nación.

Alongside Fernández, Martínez Sosa and his former private secretary, María Cantero, were also indicted, among others.

The crimes under investigation in the case include money laundering, graft and fraudulent administration aggravated by malfeasance.

Following Wednesday’s ruling by the Federal Criminal Cassation Court, the case remains open. The situation of the other defendants could be reviewed and, according to local media, Fernández could even be re-indicted.

The corruption allegations emerged when a court ordered an examination of Cantero’s phone while investigating assault claims lodged by Yáñez.

Yáñez filed a complaint accusing Fernández of having beaten her during their relationship, which ended after the veteran Peronist left office.

He faces a separate trial on charges of domestic abuse.

Fernández has always denied any violence against Yáñez, 43, with whom he has a son born in 2022.

The Peronist leader did not seek re-election after serving a single term, eventually handing over power to self-described “anarcho-capitalist” President Javier Milei in December 2023.

– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL