Argentina’s Supreme Court has taken a decisive step in the long-running Correo Argentino post office debt settlement case, rejecting an appeal lodged by defence lawyers and reactivating the investigation.
The presentation, filed as part of a criminal probe into alleged multimillion-dollar losses to the state from the period when the company entered receivership, sought to disqualify two federal appeals court judges on the grounds of presumed bias.
The appeal questioned the magistrates, claiming they held “manifest enmity” towards former president Mauricio Macri.
The link to PRO leader is via the Macri family firm Socma SA, which took charge of the postal service in 1997 when it was privatised by former president Carlos Menem. Correo Argentino SA was renationalised six years later.
While Macri is not among those indicted in the case, the investigation targets former officials from his government and executives with close ties to his family circle.
The alleged hostility towards the former president, lawyers for Socma SA and Grupo Macri argued, also extended to the accused in the case.
Confirming previous court rulings, the Supreme Court last weekend rejected the motion as inadmissible.
The case, overseen by federal judge Ariel Lijo since 2017, centres on suspected irregularities in a debt repayment agreement between Correo Argentino SA – at the time controlled by Macri family-owned firm Socma SA – and the national government in 2016, when Macri served as president.
Prosecutors allege the deal was “ruinously abusive” and resulted in a 98.87 percent haircut on the debt owed to the state.
Bid to remove judges
The lawsuit was filed by lawyers representing Jaime Cibils Robirosa and Jaime Kleidermacher – president and legal representative of Correo Argentino SA, respectively – against magistrates Eduardo Farah and Roberto Boico of the Buenos Aires City Federal Appeals Court.
Grupo Macri’s legal team alleged they feared partiality on the part of the judges, citing their prior decisions and roles during previous administrations, particularly under Kirchnerite governments.
Farah was accused of potential bias due to a previous episode in which he claimed to have been pressured by the Macri administration after ruling in favour of releasing businessmen Cristóbal López and Fabián De Sousa from prison. That experience, they argued, might still colour his judgment in the present case.
Boico, meanwhile, was challenged over his past career as a defence lawyer for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Oscar Parrilli in the Memorandum with Iran case, which the plaintiffs claimed placed him in a position of potential bias against the Macri family.
The defence maintained that both judges held a “manifest enmity” towards the former president and that the case itself was politically motivated, aimed at damaging Macri and his associates.
The Supreme Court dismissed the claims, finding that the extraordinary appeal was not directed against a final sentence or anything with equivalent legal weight. As such, the motion was ruled inadmissible.
The Federal Appeals Court had previously rejected the recusal request. A subsequent appeal to the Cassation Court also failed, with Judge Javier Carbajo ruling there were no objective grounds to justify the removal of the judges.
The final appeal was heard by the Supreme Court, whose ruling – signed by justices Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz and Ricardo Lorenzetti – confirmed the earlier decisions.
The justices also warned the plaintiffs that they must either pay a court deposit or face notification of its enforcement.
Case background: Correo Argentino debt deal
The criminal case examines a 2016 debt settlement between Correo Argentino SA and the national government, signed during Macri’s 2015-2019 administration.
The company, which had entered receivership in 2001, proposed cancelling its debt in fixed instalments over 15 years at seven percent annual interest. The proposal implied a 98.87 percent haircut on the original sum – a plan prosecutor Gabriela Boquín labelled as “ruinously abusive.”
Among those indicted are the firm’s directors, including Cibils Robirosa and Kleidermacher, as well as former government officials such as then-communications minister Oscar Aguad and Juan Manuel Mocoroa, former legal affairs director at the portfolio.
All were indicted for alleged fraud against the state, as the agreement – which prosecutors claim would have seriously damaged public finances – was never formally approved.
The case had stalled in recent years. The last significant judicial measure came in 2019, when the Federal Appeals Court ordered forensic accountants to assess the real value of the debt owed to the state and compare it with the terms proposed in the 2016 deal.
The aim was to determine whether there was an undue reduction in the debt and to what extent. That analysis remains ongoing.
The Supreme Court’s latest decision ensures the case will move forward, keeping both Correo Argentino’s leadership and the broader Macri business group under judicial scrutiny.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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