By Alek Buttermann Argentine judicial authorities are scrambling to recover an estimated $500mn lost to the state in what prosecutors describe as a “colossal” fraud scheme led by former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner during her 2007–2015 tenure.

Argentina’s Supreme Court has upheld a six-year prison sentence against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the polarizing former president and one of the country’s most influential politicians, barring her from public office for life.

An Argentine judge on Tuesday approved a request from former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to serve out her six-year prison sentence for corruption at home. Kirchner, 72, a polarizing leftist figure who was president from 2007 to 2015,