Today will be known the verdict against Romina Picolotti, accused of having used public funds for personal expenses

The Federal Oral Court 6 will deliver the verdict on Monday in the context of the oral trial against the former Secretary of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation Romina Picolotti for the alleged use of public funds from this agency for personal expenses such as meals, gifts and travel.

During the proceedings, the prosecution demanded that the former national official be sentenced to three years and nine months in prison and that she return nearly seven million pesos for the damage caused to the state.

Informed judicial sources Infobae that the hearing will begin virtually at 8 a.m., as the whole trial has ended. First the prosecutor Diego luciani will respond to cancellation requests raised by Picolotti’s defense then the former official will have the opportunity to say her last words before the verdict – scheduled for 4:00 p.m. – by the judges Sabrina Namer, Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Guillermo Costabel.

The verdict was scheduled for next Wednesday, but due to the oral court agenda, it was brought forward to this Monday.

Picolotti, Secretary of the Environment between 2006 and 2008, in the governments of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, is accused of the crime of fraud to the detriment of the public administration, for having used the funds of the agency for personal and family expenses. The secretariat depended on the chief of staff who was then in charge of Alberto Fernandez, president of the nation.

“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 have been paid for or almost daily lunches without justification, plane tickets were paid for for family and friends unrelated to the secretary and expensive charter flights”Luciani said in his plea.

Among the expenses, the prosecutor detailed barbecue meals, breakfasts, sushi restaurants, flowers, drugstore products, balanced dog food, fuel costs, car wash, laundry service, the purchase of scented stones, incense. In his plea, he exposed 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”.

The Office of the Prosecutor has maintained that the updated amount of these expenses is 6,941,170.25 pesos which it has requested to return them as part of the sentence. The former official had signed an agreement with the ArgenINTA Foundation to administer the public funds of the Secretariat. “Since the foundation, no expenditure analysis has been made,” said the prosecutor.

The defense of Picolotti, by the lawyer Felipe Trucco, asked for an acquittal. He argued in his plea that “the evidence shows the non-existence of the fact” because it is not proven that the signing of the expense receipts is Picolotti. “She expressly denied that these signatures corresponded to her and in the case a calligraphic expertise was not made despite our request. “What can prove invoices in which the letter is not included?” There is no accounting or calligraphic expertise“, says the lawyer.

Trucco also pointed out that the payments were approved by the staff of the Secretariat who performed this function. “These are absurd, ridiculous, unreasonable expenses for Picolotti’s career,” added the lawyer in his request for acquittal.

The defense also requested the acquittal for the “unreasonable length of the process” which lasts 14 years and the nullity of the investigation and the referral of the case for trial. This will have to answer the prosecutor Luciani this Monday, at the beginning of the hearing.

Picolotti is following the trial by videoconference from the United States, where he has lived since 2015 and works for a civil association for the environment.

The case began in 2007 and was heard by the federal judge Maria servini and the prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan. The case went to an oral trial in 2015 and the process began in February this year.

When the cause started Alberto Fernández defended Picolotti. “A file was copied which was circulating which was nothing more than a political operation to injure a government official,” the president said today after the publication of the case by the Clarin newspaper. When she left government and Picolotti was prosecuted, she argued that she had to give the necessary explanations and that the charge she was being prosecuted for was about an issue he was unaware of.

At the start of the trial, Picolotti denied the accusation. “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, ”he told the judges.

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