Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) - An Argentine court has ordered nearly $500 million in assets seized from ex-president Cristina Kirchner and others convicted with her of corruption in awarding public works contracts.

In a ruling seen by AFP on Wednesday, a federal court ordered the seizure of more than 100 separate assets, including properties, owned by 72-year-old Kirchner, two of her children, and others.

Kirchner, a dominant and polarizing figure in Argentine politics for over two decades, was first lady from 2003-2007, when her late husband Nestor Kirchner was president.

She succeeded him for two terms until 2015 and later served as vice president to Alberto Fernandez from 2019 until 2023, when Javier Milei took office.

In June, Argentina’s the Supreme Court upheld her corruption conviction over the awarding of public works contracts in the southern Patagonia region when she was president.

She was allowed to serve her sentence under house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor, and was banned from holding public office for the rest of her life as well as ordered to pay compensation.

In the ruling issued late Tuesday, the court ordered the seizure of assets to “restore the illicitly obtained assets – and their derivatives – to the State…and at the same time compensate society for the material and symbolic damages resulting from the criminal conduct.”

Kirchner is also on trial in a second graft case involving millions of dollars in cash bribes allegedly paid by businesspeople to government officials between 2003 and 2015 for the awarding of state contracts.

It has been described by prosecutors as “the biggest ever corruption investigation in Argentina’s legal history.”

Kirchner, a charismatic politician revered by many on the left but detested by the right, maintains she is the victim of a right-wing judicial hounding aimed at destroying her career.