Judge rejects cover-up case against Argentine president

Documents originally filed by late prosecutor Nisman failed to meet standards needed to open formal probe, judge says.

An Argentine federal judge has dismissed a prosecutor’s allegations that President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner tried to cover-up the alleged involvement of Iranian officials in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires.

Judge Daniel Rafecas said on Thursday that the documents originally filed by the late prosecutor Alberto Nisman failed to meet standards needed to open a formal court investigation.

The move is likely to stoke further frustration among many Argentinians, especially the country’s large Jewish community that has been staging protests to push the government to provide answers surrounding the 1994 bombing and Nisman’s death.

Nisman had filed the complaint just days before he died on January 18 under mysterious circumstances.

Polls showed many Argentines suspect officials had some hand in the death, though Fernandez and aides have suggested the death was aimed at destabilising her government.

The case against Fernandez was thrown out after Argentina’s congress approved a law overhauling an intelligence agency under fire from the president as well as the opposition.

The measure approved early on Thursday comes after Fernandez said the agency was out of control and suggested a top spy could have been involved in the death of a special prosecutor.

Opposition legislators said the revamp does not go far enough.

Source: News Agencies