Argentinian businessman Lazaro Baez, at the center of a corruption probe against ex-president Cristina Kirchner and her late husband Nestor, was sentenced to 12 years in jail Wednesday for money laundering.

A court in Buenos Aires convicted 64-year-old Baez of transferring $55 million, illicitly sourced, to accounts in tax havens between 2010 and 2013, during which time Cristina Kirchner was at the country's helm. She is now vice president.

The money was later used to buy Argentine treasury bonds and then deposited into accounts of Austral Construcciones, a company owned by Baez.

The businessman's four children received sentences of between three years suspended and nine years in jail.

Another 17 people were also sentenced in the case.

Baez has been in detention since 2016, a period that will be subtracted from his sentence. Since September, he has been in house arrest, with an electronic ankle bracelet.

A former bank manager, he had created a business empire in the southern Santa Cruz province, winning oil and public works tenders during the presidencies of Nestor Kirchner from 2003 to 2007, then his wife Cristina until 2015.

Nestor Kirchner died in 2010.

His widow stands accused in a separate trial of having favored Baez in the awarding of more than 50 public works contracts in Santa Cruz, worth some $1.2 billion.

There are also other cases stemming from Kirchner and her husband's terms in office. Kirchner claims political persecution.

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