A new chapter has opened in Argentina’s long and turbulent battle against political corruption. On November 6, a federal court in Buenos Aires began hearings in what has been described as one of the country’s most extensive and politically explosive corruption trials in decades. Nearly 90 defendants – including former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – now stand accused of running or participating in a vast bribery network tied to public works contracts during her presidency and that of her late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner.

The proceedings, known as the “Cuadernos de las Coimas” (Bribery Notebooks) case, derive their name from a series of eight handwritten notebooks allegedly maintained by Oscar Centeno, the personal chauffeur to Roberto Baratta, a top aide to then–Planning Minister Julio De Vido. The notebooks, prosecutors say, meticulously record a shadow economy of corruption at the heart of Argentina’s political establishment – chronicling dates, routes, amounts of cash, and names of officials and businessmen involved in the delivery of illicit payments.

According to the indictment, the bribery network operated as a parallel financial structure embedded within the state apparatus. Between 2009 and 2011 alone, prosecutors allege that at least 200 separate cash deliveries were made to government offices, private residences, and campaign headquarters. The payments – often in duffel bags or briefcases – allegedly came from major construction firms seeking lucrative public contracts, concessions, or regulatory favors during the Kirchner administrations (2003–2015).

When the existence of Centeno’s notebooks became public in August 2018, it sent shockwaves through Argentina. Journalists from La Nación, who first

© Blitz