Following investigation into late la plata judge suspected of graft Saturday, October 8, 2016 Court rules no statute of limitations for corruption casesA court in La Plata, Buenos Aires province took a step towards a possible radical change to Argentina’s laws surrounding graft after approving a request filed by Civic Coalition (CC) lawmaker and government ally Elisa Carrió to remove corruption charges under the current Criminal Code from the statute of limitations. Carrió previously demanded that statute limitations be removed for the criminal investigation into Miralles, who died in 2013 while the case was ongoing, as part of a broader effort to make corruption investigations open-ended and any subsequent prosecutions not restricted by time. PrecedentThe ruling was based on an interpretation of Article 36 of the national Constitution, which says that “corruption offenses punishable under Title XI of the Criminal Code” are not subject to the statute of limitations. Carrió has regularly campaigned for a tougher legal stance to fight corruption and argued with former political allies in 2014 that corruption should not be subjected to the statute of limitations, in the same way that a Supreme Court decision previously ruled that crimes against humanity cases should be exempted from such regulation. The “breakthrough” heralded by the CC leader reportedly made history as it is the first time a court had ruled in favour of removing the statute of limitations in a corruption case.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald October 08, 2016 03:11 UTC