Ex-Argentina president Cristina de Kirchner who sparked countless Falklands rows with UK charged with corruption and has £525m assets frozen
Fernandez, who was best known for baiting David Cameron over the Falkland Islands, said she was a victim of persecution by Argentina's current leader, Mauricio Macri
FORMER Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been charged with corruption and has had her £525million asset frozen.
Fernandez, 63, faces charges of illicit association and fraudulent administration and could be jailed for ten years, it is reported.
It is alleged she ran a corruption scheme with a public works secretary who was arrested in June while trying to stash millions of dollars in a convent.
A federal judge accused Fernandez and her administration of crimes "including the deliberate seizure of funds principally meant for public road works".
She denies any wrongdoing and accuses Argentina's current leader, Mauricio Macri, of plotting against her.
Fernandez, who was in power between 2007 and 2015, was known for her anti-British stance over the Falkland Islands.
In 2013, she surprised David Cameron by presenting him with a letter demanding that Britain enter into negotiations over the status of the islands.
Over her eight year tenure, she continually baited British Prime Ministers over the islands, demanding they be given back to Argentina.
But throughout her presidency, Fernandez had been accused of corruption and is also being investigated for money laundering and possible illegal enrichment.
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The country was riveted in June when Fernandez's former public works secretary, Jose Lopez, was arrested while tossing bags stuffed with millions of dollars over the walls of a Catholic convent on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
A gun-toting Lopez started hurling the money into the Our Lady of Fatima convent when the elderly nuns inside were slow to answer the door in the early morning hours of June 14, according to a neighbour who witnessed what happened and called 911.
CCTV showed the nuns finally welcoming Lopez and accepting the cash while paying little attention to the automatic rifle he had placed by the convent door.
Lopez and his direct boss, former Planning Minister Julio De Vido, were indicted along with Fernandez on Tuesday.
The alleged skimming of road projects took place in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, where Fernandez lives.
The ruling said the offences took place until December 9, 2015, Fernandez's last day as president after eight years in office.
No arrest warrant has been issued for Fernandez and Lopez is already in jail on money laundering charges.
In May, Fernandez was charged with defrauding the Argentine state out of £3.5billion.
During her administration, according to the charges, the central bank took money-losing positions in the futures market just before a widely expected devaluation of the peso currency.
Fernandez, head of the leftist faction of the Peronism party umbrella, is revered by millions of Argentines for her generous welfare programs.
But she is reviled by others, who accuse her of wrecking Argentina's economy, Latin America's third biggest, with profligate state spending and heavy-handed trade and currency controls.
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