Former Lázaro Báez company executive to perform community service in exchange for not going to trial for corruption

A former executive of a company linked to Lázaro Báez has been granted community service in exchange for avoiding trial over corruption charges, according to court documents released this week. The decision was made by the Fourth Chamber of the Federal Court of Criminal Appeals, which ruled in a divided decision to suspend the trial against Myriam Elizabeth Costilla, who served as director of Kank and Costilla SA, a firm connected to Báez. The majority ruling was signed by judges Mariano Borinsky and Diego Barroetaveña, who upheld the decision of the Federal Oral Trial Court 2 to grant Costilla a conditional suspension of her trial. The decision allows her to avoid prosecution if she complies with specific conditions, including residing under the supervision of the Directorate of Execution and Assistance of Penalties and performing four hours of weekly community service at the Pablo VI Home for the Elderly in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, for two years. In his dissenting opinion, Judge Gustavo Hornos argued against granting the benefit and called instead for Costilla to face an immediate public trial alongside other accused individuals. He emphasized that the severity of the alleged institutional misconduct could not justify such leniency. This case is part of the second phase of the Vialidad corruption investigation, in which former President Cristina Kirchner was sentenced to six years in prison. Costilla’s legal team secured the suspension of the case through a plea agreement, which requires her to reside under state supervision and perform community service. Both the prosecution, led by prosecutors Diego Luciani and Sergio Mola, and the Financial Information Unit, which acts as the complainant in the case, opposed the granting of this benefit. They accuse Costilla of participating in a scheme to siphon public funds between January 2007 and August 2013. According to the indictment, while serving as president of Kank and Costilla SA, Costilla allowed the company to engage in bidding processes that were prohibited under existing regulations, thereby contributing to a broader strategy orchestrated by Lázaro Antonio Báez. The prosecution alleges that Costilla used her position to facilitate the withdrawal of public funds through fraudulent practices involving public infrastructure projects. These actions, they claim, were carried out despite restrictions preventing other firms within the same corporate group from competing in the same tenders. Kank and Costilla SA became part of the business network controlled by Lázaro Báez in 2007, when Báez acquired the company along with Austral Construction SA. From that point onward, the firm was integrated into the economic structure through which benefits derived from irregular public contracts were channeled and managed, according to the indictment. Judge Hornos highlighted in his dissent that the nature of the alleged crimes committed by Costilla as head of Kank and Costilla SA demonstrates the scale of the investigated maneuver, executed in collaboration with high-ranking officials of the national government and private entities. He stated that these actions caused substantial damage to public finances, one of the largest recorded in Argentine judicial history. Hornos insisted that Costilla must face a public trial, describing it as the appropriate venue for clarifying the facts and determining potential responsibilities. He stressed that cases of corruption should be judged with the utmost severity, as they not only harm public assets but also undermine the integrity of the state. The ruling has sparked debate among legal experts and civil society groups regarding the balance between justice and rehabilitation in cases of serious corruption. Some argue that the conditional suspension offers a chance for redemption, while others maintain that such measures risk undermining the rule of law and public trust in the judiciary. The case continues to unfold, with further developments expected as the legal process progresses.