The beginning of the bribery ledger trial once again lays before Argentines one of the deepest wounds of our institutional life: Systemic corruption and the impunity that protects it. These are not just individual cases or proper nouns. This is the framework that has led, over the years, to the diversion of public resources, the deterioration of institutions, and the erosion of citizens’ confidence in the state.
But impunity is more harmful than corruption, because while the former steals money, the latter steals hope. Corruption can be fought through controls, transparency, and penalties; On the other hand, impunity erodes the foundations of the republic by sending a devastating message: In Argentina, you can commit crimes of power and not suffer the consequences.
Seventeen years after the events, as happened in several trials, the evidence cools, witnesses disperse, and society loses its memory. In these delays, justice ends up becoming ineffective against the corrupt. It is at this point that we must question not only those responsible for crimes, but also the judicial system that, through slowness or complacency, ends up ensuring impunity.
Judicial independence is an inalienable value But it cannot be an excuse for incompetence. Justice that does not work in a timely manner is not justice. Citizens need courageous, fair and technically capable judges, but they also need predictable institutions and reasonable timelines. Delaying processes threatens not only due process but also the credibility of the democratic system.
We from the Civic Coalition insisted that the fight against corruption should be a state policy, not an occasional slogan. That is why we have developed a comprehensive anti-corruption plan, which proposes concrete measures to make public administration transparent, strengthen oversight bodies and protect those who report wrongdoing. There we raised the need to ensure traceability of public funds, active publicity of government actions, and social control of public works, among other essential points.
But all this will not be enough if it is not complemented by deep judicial reform. Which ensures speed, professionalism and responsibility. No republic is possible when judicial processes drag on for decades. There is no trust when cases sleep in court. There is no public morality when the corrupt feel that time is on their side.
Corruption not only impoverishes any country economically, but it also impoverishes it morally. It denies opportunity, discourages meritocracy, and promotes inequality. However, impunity is even worse: Cynicism entrenches and destroys the basic trust between the citizen and the state.
Argentina needs to close the cycle of impunity in order to open the cycle of transparency. It is not about revenge, but about institutional reform. It is not about looking back, but about learning and creating a new moral standard for those who exercise power.
Trying out “laptops” might be an opportunity. Not only to judge the events of the past, but to take a step towards a new phase of public responsibility. May justice arrive this time, may it arrive in time. Because without truth and justice, there is no future.
National MP (ARI Civic Coalition)
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