Mendoza, February 6 (NA) -- Former federal judge Walter Bento was sentenced this Friday to 18 years in prison, after being found guilty of the crimes of criminal association, passive bribery, illicit enrichment, money laundering, and ideological falsification. In a historic ruling, the judges of the Federal Oral Court No. 2, Gretel Diamante, Eliana Rattá Rivas, and María Carolina Pereyra, ordered the seizure of all his assets, with the exception of his house in the Los Palmares neighborhood and a vehicle. Furthermore, the judges, who confirmed the sentence requested by the prosecution, imposed a fine of 540 million pesos on Bento. According to Noticias Argentinas agency, Bento's wife, Marta Boiza, and his son, Nahuel Bento, were also convicted of property-related crimes linked to the case. The woman received six years for money laundering, illicit enrichment, and ideological falsification, in addition to a fine of 346 thousand pesos, while her eldest son was sentenced to five years in prison. THE CASE Investigators confirmed that since 2007, a criminal organization existed that granted freedom to detainees or defendants and reduced coercive measures in exchange for vehicles, bribes in dollars, and real estate, thus guaranteeing impunity through rulings that established lack of merit, dismissals, or modifications to the case titles. On November 8, 2023, the Jury for the Trial of Magistrates removed Bento from his position as head of Federal Court No. 1 in Mendoza for 'poor performance of his functions', while he was being held in preventive custody at the Cacheuta prison.
