Argentina ex-president defiant as fraud cases heard

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina's ex-president Cristina Kirchner went before a judge Wednesday to hear charges in a fraud case over alleged dodgy dollar transactions when she was leader last year.
It is one in a series of politically charged cases against the leftist former leader and her allies launched since her conservative rival Mauricio Macri replaced her in December.
Hundreds of armed police guarded the Palace of Justice in Buenos Aires, where the hearings took place.
In a separate case, police last week searched properties belonging to Kirchner, 63, over alleged links to money laundering.
Those searches were ordered by Claudio Bonadio, the same judge who summoned her on Wednesday over the dollar-trading case.
Kirchner previously tried to have Bonadio – an open opponent – dismissed from his post.
On Wednesday, she rejected his charges as a political plot by the new government.
"The harassment by what I call the 'judicial party' is clear," Kirchner told a news conference afterward her hearing, surrounded by supporters holding banners.
Suspect dollar dealings
Kirchner and her former government are accused of mishandling public funds by making speculative dollar transactions in September.
She said Wednesday that the transactions had been approved by Bonadio and executives who have now become members of Macri's administration.
Macri is separately implicated in the "Panama Papers" scandal over offshore accounts. A court is investigating suspected irregularities in his tax returns.
Kirchner has also been accused of links to Lazaro Baez, a construction magnate accused of money laundering. He also went before a judge on Wednesday.
And in another case, Kirchner's former planning minister, current lawmaker Julio de Vido, 66, was to appear in court to answer allegations of corruption in a public housing project.
Another of Kirchner's former ministers went to court on Tuesday in a bizarre case that saw him arrested while trying to hide cases of cash in a monastery.
Another prominent Kirchner ally, Hebe de Bonafini, has been called for questioning in that case.
She leads the rights group Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, which campaigns for victims of Argentina's former dictatorship. She has denied wrongdoing and declined to appear in court.
Kirchner's allegations of a vendetta against her have fueled tensions in Argentina.
Macri is pushing through sensitive economic reforms and trying to mend foreign relations in Latin America's third biggest economy.
Kirchner's supporters say his public-job cuts and price rises are hurting poor families.— AFP