The federal court has lowered the bail for Sergio Schoklender, former manager for the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, from four million to $40,000.
Judges Eduardo Farah and Jorge Ballesteros voted for the lower bailbond, which is in opposition to Judge Noberto Oyarbide’s original four million.
The lowered bail has made some feel like freedom is imminent, according to Clarin.
As of this afternoon, the bail was posted into the account at Tribunales del Banco Ciudad for Sergio’s brother, Pablo Schoklender, and Alejandro Gotkin, former accountant. Earlier this year, both their bails were reduced to$40,000 from four million and 2 million, respectively.
Earlier this year, Schoklender was ordered to be arrested by Judge Norberto Oyarbide on charges of defrauding the government and money laundering. After further investigation, it was found that he may have had a part in embezzling money from the organization Madres de Plaza de Mayo after it was found that he was also a major shareholder of Meldorek, the social housing construction company.
The Mothers use Meldorek as part of their Shared Dreams project, also a multi-million-dollar government led project to fund home-building for lower income families.
Alejandra Bonafini, the daughter of the head of The Mothers organization, stated her suspicions and mistrust of Sergio a few months ago. In a statement, she said “I was profoundly suspicious of this character and I let my mother and other close persons know that I did not trust him, doubted his dealings and disliked the agreements he had with people”.
The attention has reignited the Schoklender’s past. Both brothers were arrested and imprisoned for the murder of their parents in 1981. Although they defended the act saying it was after years of abuse, they were still tried and sentenced to jail. In 1995, Sergio was released with and it was then that he developed a relationship with Hebe de Bonafini, the head of The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, to become the organisation’s treasurer.
Last year, journalist Martín Caparrós has published an interview with Sergio Schoklender explaining his relationship with Hebe and the Mothers’ organization.
