Former Environment Secretary Sentenced to Prison: María Julia Alsogaray, former Environment Secretary during the Menem administration, was sentenced to four years in jail and had an arrest warrant issued against her. The ruling was delivered today by Federal Court number 6, in Buenos Aires, which found her guilty of fraud against the state during her participation in the privatisation of telephone company Entel in 1990. Alsogaray, seen by many as a symbol of corruption during the Menem years, had pleaded not guilty. In a different case, the 71-year old former politician was also found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to three years in prison. However, she is allowed to remain free until the appeals in both cases are completed.
US Supreme Court Hears First Arguments in Vulture Fund Dispute: The US Supreme Court today held the first hearing in the long-running case over outstanding debt from Argentina’s 2001 default. The court heard arguments on the specific issue of whether banks can be obliged to provide details of a sovereign state’s assets worldwide, as hedge fund NML Capital seeks to obtain the US$1.33bn it has already been awarded by lower courts. Argentina claims it should be protected from providing the information under the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler spoke in support of Argentina, saying the US would be “very concerned” in a reciprocal situation if a foreign court ordered the government to provide details of its own global assets. One possibility raised by several judges in the hearing today was to exclude all military and diplomatic assets from any information handed to NML Capital.
Today’s hearing was treated as separate to Argentina’s principal appeal for the US Supreme Court to review the lower court decision forcing the country to pay back holders of defaulted bonds in full before it can begin to repay its restructured debt. The court is not expected to make a decision on whether to hear this appeal until June at the earliest, by which time it should also rule on the issue at question today.
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