The United Kingdom has bad press in Argentina but, for once, the country of Thatcher and the Falklands war will have served as an example. Like Boris Johnson, Alberto Fernández sparked controversy in his country after a photo leaked showing him celebrating the first lady’s birthday with friends in July 2020, when Argentina was under extremely long and strict confinement. . With his wife, the head of state is sentenced to pay an exceptional fine for an incumbent, says The chronicler.
The Olivos scandal owes its name to the posh suburb of Buenos Aires where the illegal reception took place, which ultimately cost the president 1.6 million pesos and 1.4 million pesos to Fabiola Yáñez, his wife, or a total equivalent to 25,000 dollars, underlines the Argentine site. The amount of the fine was fixed within the framework of a legal arrangement concluded to close the file. All monies will be donated to a medical institute specializing in the treatment of infectious diseases.
A president in office in court
Faced with the photo that sparked the controversy, the Argentinian president had initially considered that it did not illustrate a crime, since “the meeting did not lead to Covid-19 contagion”. More “this should never have happened”, now admits Alberto Fernández, quoted by Radio Canal. “I am the first president to have had to answer for his actions in court”, he adds.
“Although a civil servant can exercise his functions at any time” and the crime has been committed “within an official residence”, the President’s participation in such an event cannot be considered as having taken place within the framework of “its functions”, said the judge in charge of the case.