Notebook scandal

The notebook scandal or graft scandal (called "Caso de los Cuadernos" in Spanish, transl. "Notebooks Case/Scandal") took place in Argentina in 2018. It was started by the driver Óscar Centeno, who had worked for public officials during the presidencies of Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and denounced an organized corruption scheme. According to notes that he had kept in personal notebooks, he had frequently carried bags filled with US dollars to several locations, including public buildings and even the personal house of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Those bags would be payments for bribes. Several businessmen named in the notebooks were detained, and then confessed such payments to turn state's evidence. According to their testimonies, the Kirchners extorted them into paying bribes. José López, a politician detained a couple of years before, agreed to confess to the judge his role in it. It is thought that bureaucrats from the Ministry of Planning extorted bribes, at least in part, in order to finance political campaigns. As an Argentine Senator, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has parliamentary immunity, which protects her from arrest and search and seizure operations unless the Argentine Senate agrees to it. Judge Bonadio asked the Senate for such a search at Fernández de Kirchner's houses, but most senators of the Justicialist Party stayed outside so that the voting failed for lack of quorum. A large demonstration outside the Congress was followed by a new vote, that agreed to the search. The search did not find any money, but found the remains of a bank vault and a stolen car.