A federal appeals court in Argentina overturned the dismissal of a money laundering investigation into outgoing Vice President and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Tuesday, reopening the case.

Commonly referred to as La ruta del dinero K (“The K[irchner] money route”), the probe pursued evidence around suspicions that Fernández de Kirchner, who also served as president between 2007 and 2015; her late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007); and Argentine businessman Lázaro Báez embezzled $55 million in public infrastructure works funds, stashing them away in tax havens.

The case takes its colloquial name from an eponymous 2013 journalistic investigation that sparked the court’s lengthy official investigation proceedings.

Báez was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for the case in 2021 alongside 17 other individuals involved, including Báez’s sons. Argentine federal judge Sebastián Casanello dismissed the case against Fernández de Kirchner in the same incident in June, arguing that there were no longer any accusers who maintained that she should be investigated in the case. Néstor Kirchner, who was allegedly involved in the money laundering scheme, passed away in 2010 due to heart-related health complications.

The reopening of the investigation against Fernández de Kirchner follows a successful appeal request filed by the Republican Base Civil Association, a non-profit organization with ties to former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).

Fernández de Kirchner lashed out against the Argentine Judiciary on Monday afternoon, questioning its independence and attacking Macri. In posts on social media, the former president threw vague accusations at Macri after another court dismissed a completely unrelated case on Tuesday that investigated Macri’s involvement in the alleged espionage of the families of the victims of the ARA San Juan, an Argentine submarine that disappeared in 2017 with its 44-men crew.

Her message read:

Postcards of an Argentine morning: Macri confirmed his impunity in the case of the death of the 44 crew members of the ARA San Juan, revoked my dismissal in the “K money” case and, as he does not seem to win, he got the Judiciary to suspend the elections in [local soccer team Boca Juniors] five days before they are to be held.

“To think that in Argentina there are still those who talk about the independence of the judiciary and their faces do not fall off. Mamita!” she continued.

Gregorio Dalbon, Fernández de Kirchner’s lawyer, told the Spanish news agency EFE that the appeals court’s ruling is a “legal disgrace for the sole purpose of continuing with a political persecution.” Dalbon said that they will seek the prosecution of the magistrates involved in the appeal “for prevaricating,” claiming that “sooner or later” the case will end up impugning Mauricio Macri.

“Cristina Fernández’s money route is in her sworn statements since she has been a public official and she is the only politician who had her money in a bank. Not in the Panama Papers or in tax havens,” Dalbon asserted.

The K-money route is not the only corruption case against Fernández de Kirchner.

In December 2022, an Argentine federal court convicted her on corruption charges after she was found guilty of defrauding the Argentine state for upwards of $1 billion through 51 public roadworks contracts granted to Báez during her two presidential terms. The case is commonly referred to as the Causa Vialidad (“Road Case”).

Although the court sentenced Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison and imposed a lifetime ban on her from holding any public office, her position as vice president and head of the Argentine Senate granted her immunity from the sentence. Fernández de Kirchner is presently undergoing a lengthy multi-year appeal process against her Road Case conviction.

The sentence, according to Fernández de Kirchner herself, is what led her to desist in her pursuit of a third presidential term in 2023, claiming at the time that she would not be “a candidate for anything” and that her name “will not be on any ballot.”

Fernández de Kirchner, who has maintained close ties to Iran, has been accused of aiding the rogue Islamic regime in covering up its involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), where 85 people died. The AMIA bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In 2015, prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was leading the AMIA bombing coverup investigation, was found dead the night before the corresponding congressional hearings, where his written documents indicated he would directly implicate Fernández de Kirchner. Argentine authorities ruled his death a suicide.

Férnandez de Kirchner was formally charged with helping cover up Iran’s involvement in the AMIA bombing less than a month after Nissman’s death. However, the case was controversially dismissed in October 2021.

In 2014, a federal investigation was launched against Hotelsur, a chain of hotels that belongs to Férnandez de Kirchner’s family. The investigation concluded with accusations of tax evasion, money laundering, and formal charges against Férnandez de Kirchner. In that same year, she was also accused of money laundering and fraud through foreign exchange contracts that incurred heavy losses to the Argentine Central Bank in a case known as Dólar Futuro (“Future Dollar”).

Much like the AMIA bombing coverup case, the Hotelsur and Future Dolar cases were also controversially dismissed in 2021.

Férnandez de Kirchner will be succeeded by Victoria Villaruel as both Argentina’s vice president and head of Senate when her term ends on December 10.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.