Prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence Argentina’s vice president Cristina Fernandez to 12 years in prison for allegedly leading a criminal conspiracy that irregularly awarded public works contracts to a friend and ally.

“We are faced with the biggest corruption manoeuvre that this country has ever known,” prosecutor Diego Luciani said in his closing arguments in the trial of Fernandez, who was president of Argentina between 2007 and 2015, before becoming vice president in 2019.

The alleged fraud against the state cost the country’s coffers around one billion dollars (£847 million), Mr Luciani said.

The former president has vehemently denied charges against her in the three-year trial and has said the judges already have the sentence against her “written and even signed”.

Fernandez has characterized the trial as an effort to use the courts to stop her from ever holding elected office again and her allies have characterised it as a political prosecution.

The presidential office came out in support of Fernandez, saying she is the victim of a “persecution by the courts and media”.

Current President Alberto Fernandez also expressed “solidarity” with his number two in a social media post.

Mr Luciani told judges they will have the final say on whether “corruption or justice” prevails.

Although Fernandez has faced numerous accusations of corruption for events that took place while she was in office, this marks the first time a trial against the former president has gotten this far to include a prosecutor formally requesting a sentence, which would include barring her for life from holding public office.

Fernandez, 69, is accused of leading a conspiracy that involved awarding 51 public works contracts for roadworks to Lazaro Baez in southern Santa Cruz province. Many of those public works were never finished.

Prosecutors say Baez, a former bank employee who went on to become a public works mogul, created the company Austral Construcciones as a way to win state tenders.

An additional 12 people are also indicted in the case, including Baez and Julio De Vido, the minister who was in charge of public works during Fernandez’s administration.

A sentence is expected by the end of the year and could be appealed.