The prosecution requested three years and nine months in prison for Romina Picolotti and the restitution of 7 million pesos for using public funds for personal expenses

Federal prosecutor Diego luciani asked today that the former Secretary of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation Romina Picolotti be sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for having used the public funds of this agency for personal or family expenses and for returning nearly seven million pesos for the damage caused to the national state. Luciani spoke of “irrational, scandalous and gross spending” which was not justified by the function, for which he accused the former official of the crime of fraud to the detriment of the public administration.

“There was absolutely irregular management on the part of Picolotti of public funds. It was a real fraud in the exercise of the public service. Meals or lunches were paid almost daily without justification, plane tickets were paid for family and friends unrelated to the secretary, and expensive charter flights, ”the prosecutor said in his plea before the secretary. the Federal Oral Court 6. On September 15, it will be the turn of the defense of the former civil servant, in charge of the lawyer Felipe Trucco, and before the end of the month the verdict is expected.

The prosecutor also asked Picolotti to pay 6,941,170.25 pesos for these unwarranted expenses. This is the amount updated to date of the damage suffered by the national State according to an expert report which was rendered in the present case. Luciani stressed that if the former official has no way of meeting the payment, a confiscation of his property will be carried out.

Picolotti was Secretary of the Environment between 2006 and 2008, in the governments of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner. Since February, she has been tried for using public funds for personal gain. The trial follows him by videoconference from the United States where he has lived since 2015.

Luciani pointed out that Picolotti made or authorized expenses with funds from the Secretariat which were for personal or third party use and which did not fulfill his function. He detailed the food on grills, breakfasts, sushi restaurants, flowers, drugstore products.. “All these expenses were endorsed by Dr Picolotti through the subscription of tickets or invoices”, he pointed out.

The prosecutor mentioned other expenses such as Balanced dog food, fuel charge, car wash, laundry service, purchase of scent stones, incense. In his plea, he presented the bills of several of them. One of the tickets he displayed was one of the most attention-grabbing expenses. It is 77.50 pesos in “Hooters”, a bar frequented by half-naked women with “Thank you very much” written on it. Another expense, in the local Pigmento, says “Flor y Sofi birthday present”.

“Picolotti knew what expenses he could make and which he could not,” said the prosecutor, who analyzed the decrees and laws that govern the use of public funds by civil servants. Luciani explained that Picolotti used these funds under an agreement with the ArgenINTA Foundation, which received the money from the Secretariat and administered them. “Since the foundation, no expenditure analysis has been made,” he explained.

The other expenses were for plane tickets or charter flights to Cordoba, where Picolotti comes from, used by her husband, mother, children, cousin and wife and friends. “The control systems failed before a maneuver that was not complex,” said Luciani. In his plea, the prosecutor recalled the statements of witnesses who worked in the administrative area of ​​the Secretariat who recalled that they had warned Picolotti of the expenses he was making.

The prosecutor accused the former civil servant of having committed the crime of fraud to the detriment of the public administration and requested three years and nine months in prison, which is effective in prison if convicted and signed. He also demanded that the former official be ordered to return to the country.

Luciani also argued that in corruption cases one of the goals is to recover the embezzled money. For this reason, in addition to the prison sentence, he asked the oral court to order Picolitti to return 6,941,170.25 pesos for the total discounted expenses.

“I categorically and categorically deny the accusation against me. I did not make or authorize the expenses reported in the indictment. I am accused of eating chorizo ​​steaks and Milanese sandwiches, but those who know me know that I am a vegetarian. Also to buy wines and beers when I’m not drinking alcohol, ”Picolotti said in his investigation at the start of the oral trial.

The former official – a lawyer, expert in environmental law and who came to the government of Néstor Kirchner during the conflict over the installation of the Botnia paper mill in Uruguay because of her opposition to this pulp mill – also stated that the cause was due to his policies in the Secretariat. And he underlined the closure of the Shell company, the inspection of large companies that have contaminated the Riachuelo, fines to the company Papel Prensa for polluting the Baradero river, halting the deforestation of indigenous forests and denouncing the subjugation of the peoples. indigenous. He also denounced that the federal judge of Quilmes, Luis Armelle, offered to do illegal business.

The Secretariat depended on the Chief of Staff of the Nation who was then in charge of the current President of the Nation, Alberto Fernandez, who defended Picolotti. “A file was copied which was circulating which was nothing more than a political operation to injure a government official,” Fernández said after the publication of the case by the Clarin newspaper. left the government and that Picolotti was prosecuted, she argued that she had to give the necessary explanations and that the accusation for which she was being prosecuted concerned an issue he was unaware of.

On September 15, Picolotti’s defense plea will take place in which he should seek his acquittal. Then the judges Sabrina Namer, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Guillermo Costabel they must fix the date of the verdict which is expected before the end of the month.

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