The prosecutor is considering requesting measures to reactivate the fraud case in the renationalization of YPF promoted by Cristina Kirchner.

Following New York Judge Loretta Preska's ruling on the state oil company's actions, prosecutor Ramiro Gonzalez is considering further investigating and reintroducing a series of evidentiary measures in the case alleging irregularities in the renationalization of YPF, promoted by former President Cristina Kirchner in 2012.

Judge Ariel Lijo, who has a request for impeachment from the Council of the Judiciary for "ironclad" the case for more than 13 years , did not delegate the investigation to prosecutor Gonzalez but instead requested a series of extensive expert reports and sent requests to Spain and the United States . He is "waiting" for those responses to take substantive measures.

The judge is also awaiting reports from the Directorate of Judicial Assistance in Complex Crimes and Organized Crime in Criminal Investigation (DAJUDECO) to decide whether to close the case or summon the defendants for questioning.

Representatives from Elisa Carrió's Civic Coalition—the first plaintiff in the case in 2006—Paula Oliveto, Juan López, and Maxi Ferraro were yesterday studying what measures to take to reactivate the case and at least ensure there would be no impunity for the local actors involved in the scheme.

The measures requested by the deputies and prosecutor Gonzalez are crucial because the Anti-Corruption Office (OA), which was a plaintiff during Laura Alonso's administration in Mauricio Macri's government, withdrew from the case during Alberto Fernández's administration.

Meanwhile, Andrés Popritkin, the leader of Forensic Accountants—the only entity acting as plaintiff in the case —is also deciding what to do about the delay in the case.

Popritkin—son of the NGO's late founder, Alfredo—told Clarín that the latest major step in the case is Judge Lijo's 2023 request to Judge Preska to send him a copy of her ruling ordering Argentina to pay $16 billion.

In that summons, Lijo states that the crimes they are investigating are Article 268 of the Penal Code, which penalizes the personal use of money or property extorted from another person through abuse of office; Article 172, fraud and defrauding the State; and Article 248, abuse of authority and violation of the duties of a public official, among others.

In 10 investigative requests filed by prosecutor Gonzalez against Lijo , former Deputy Minister of Economy and current Governor of Buenos Aires Province Axel Kicillof, former Secretary of Federal Planning and Julio De Vido's right-hand man, Roberto Baratta, and Legal and Technical Secretary Carlos Zannini were charged . Sebastián and Matías Eskenazi are also under investigation in the case. Enrique died earlier this year, and the criminal case against him has been dismissed, a judicial source explained.

The prosecutor also charged the former directors, Miguel Galuccio, José Iván Brizuela, Luis García Del Rio (Spanish citizen) Jorge Marcelo Soloaga, Sebastián Uchitel, Nicolás Marcelo Arceo, Carlos María Tombeur, Gustavo Adolfo Mazzoni, María de las Mercedes Archimbal and Enrique Alfredo Fila, who would have served as directors and/or trustees of YPF during the years 2012 to 2015. Galuccio assumed the presidency of YPF after the maneuvers under investigation.

In 2006, Carrió and Paula Oliveto Lago, among others, initially denounced the decapitalization and depletion of YPF due to the sale, promoted by former President Néstor Kirchner, of 25 percent of the shares to the Petersen group.

But in 2012, the plaintiffs expanded the case to include state fraud, following the controversial "hydrocarbon sovereignty" law that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had Congress support, amid a supposedly epic speech. Carrió even requested an investigation into Kicillof and the former president.

In addition, there is a related case against the then members of the National Appraisal Court because there was no record that, at the time of Kicillof's agreement with YPF-REPSOL , "the company's liabilities and contingent debts had been valued."

This is a criminal complaint against "Daniel Eduardo Martín, President of the YPF Ad Hoc Chamber of the National Appraisal Court, created by resolution TTN 9/13— and Galdino Alberto Cattaneo."

In a statement to Clarín, Representative Paula Oliveto explained that "Judge Lijo's delay allowed for this new ruling by Judge Preska because it could have demonstrated that there was an act of corruption in this lengthy process and thus applied the so-called Poisoned Tree Theory . If the trunk is rotten (the Petersen group's entry), so are the branches."

Former Treasury Attorney General Bernando Saravia Frías told this newspaper that, in this regard, Argentina's lawyers during the Macri administration had asked Judge Preska for "a discovery"—a search for evidence to determine the origin of the Eskenazi purchase and the Burford group's acquisition of litigation rights in Spain.

In the "Discovery" process, Argentina and Burford clashed. The Macri administration "wanted the Eskenazis' testimony. Burford said Argentina could have all the Eskenazis' documentation, and that he was making up excuses."

The Eskenazis, who always denied any wrongdoing, were subpoenaed by the US courts. Through letters exchanged with the Argentine courts, they gave testimony, but in Argentina.

Before Judge Preska, the parties disagreed on the scope of these statements made by four members of the business family.

But Saravia Frías said that during Alberto Fernández's administration , "Discovery was shut down, in agreement with Burford. They restricted it to trivial matters to shut it down quickly," and they couldn't find evidence that would have also helped Lijo's case.

In setting out to clarify "Governor Kicillof's falsehoods," Oliveto explained that "the YPF expropriation, which was not properly implemented, is one thing; and the agreement to pay Repsol is another , which was also poorly executed and, in my opinion, fraudulent."

The agreement consisted of the State paying Repsol, Antonio Brufau, with the issuance of $6 billion in bonds and another $5 billion in interest until 2033 in exchange for not filing lawsuits against the State. In contrast, Cristina, conspicuously, ordered the Petersen Group not to be paid anything for its 25 percent stake, according to judicial sources.

"They weren't stupid, nor were they a mistake: what happened at YPF was corruption. And those who stole Argentina's assets are now being protected by Judge Lijo and even by some media outlets, which aren't reporting on the dormant case in the Federal Court," Oliveto added.

In 2012, prosecutor Ramiro Gonzalez took over the case and has already submitted ten requests for investigation to Judge Lijo, as previously mentioned.

And in parallel, prosecutor Carlos Stornelli filed a complaint seeking an investigation into Baratta's role—as the government's representative at YPF—with a detailed report on the operation.

Three years later, the bankruptcy administrator for two Petersen Group companies in Spain is demanding that Cristina Kirchner's government compensate those companies as well as Repsol.

In an apostilled note sent by Armando Betancor Alamo to then-President Cristina Kirchner, he explained the economic damage caused to Petersen Energía SAU and Petersen Inversora SAU by not being paid for the 25 percent of the shares they had obtained during Néstor Kirchner's presidency.

The Spanish administrator's note states that if "Argentina does not quickly resolve the dispute through an agreement, the investors will initiate arbitration proceedings," which resulted in the purchase of the shares of these Spanish-based companies by the vulture fund Burford.

But Cristina Kirchner's government also squandered that opportunity, which would have prevented the prosecution of the vulture funds, and according to the opposition , it was not due to negligence but to corruption.