Buenos Aires, Rabi'I 29, 1438, December 28, 2016, SPA -- The former president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has been charged with corruption in the awarding of public construction contracts, according to dpa. Federal Judge Julian Ercolini on Tuesday ordered a trial against Fernandez de Kirchner, who served as president from 2007-15, and her long-term planning minister, Julio de Vido. Ercolini also froze Fernandez de Kirchner's assets, estimated at more than 10 billion peso (643 million dollars), the justice news portal CIJ said. Among other co-defendants charged in the case is the contractor, Lazaro Baez, who already is on trial on charges of money laundering in the investigation. The former state secretary for public buildings Jose Lopez was also charged. Lopez was arrested in June for allegedly trying to hide some 9 million dollars in cash from an unexplained origin in a monastery. Evidence was presented to the court that describes how during the Fernandez de Kirchner administration Grupo Austral, a company founded by Baez, received state contracts for road construction valued at more than 3 billion dollars. These included illegal surcharges of an estimated 1 billion dollars. Fernandez de Kirchner, 63, already has been prosecuted for suspected irregularities in setting the dollar value on the futures market, which allegedly caused large losses in state finances. --SPA 00:14 LOCAL TIME 21:14 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w299716