The Federal Chamber of Cassation confirmed the conviction of Guillermo Moreno, former Secretary of Domestic Trade, for the manipulation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of INDEC between 2006 and 2007 during the government of Cristina Kirchner. By majority, with the votes of Ángela Ledesma and Guillermo Yacobucci, Chamber II of the highest federal criminal court in the country ratified the sentence of the Federal Oral Court 2, which at the time sentenced Moreno to three years of conditional imprisonment and six years of special disqualification from holding public office for the crimes of abuse of authority in ideal competition with the destruction and disablement of public records.
The only pending instance for a possible review is the Supreme Court of Justice. If upheld, Moreno will be disqualified from holding public office. Judge Ledesma highlighted that the ruling of the oral court "thoroughly assessed" the gathered evidence, pointing out Moreno's "marked interest" in influencing the internal workings of INDEC, an agency that was not under his direct jurisdiction.
During the trial, it was established that INDEC officials had to adopt multiple measures to safeguard statistical confidentiality due to "the constant attacks they received from Moreno through calls, requests, and impositions." Additionally, the ruling emphasized that the former official had a "particular need, beyond public interest," to know the identity of the informants providing data on prices, as well as the specific brands surveyed for the CPI.
Ledesma stressed that INDEC technicians ended up distancing themselves from the agency, many of them on leave, and that women were those who most frequently suffered mistreatment and outrage from the former secretary. Judge Alejandro Slokar voted in dissent.
