Bomb disposal experts, forensic scientists, dogs and firefighters searched the Buenos Aires home of Argentina's former president Cristina Kirchner today as the investigation into the so-called notebooks corruption case intensified.
The move came after judge Claudio Bonadio successfully petitioned the Senate on Wednesday to partially lift Kirchner's parliamentary immunity so her three residences could be searched for evidence of multi-million dollar bribes paid by businessmen in exchange for public works contracts during her administration.
As a senator, Kirchner enjoys congressional immunity from imprisonment, but not from prosecution.
On Wednesday, Kirchner denounced in a fiery and defiant speech to the chamber what she called "political persecution" but the 65-year-old, like all the other 66 senators present, approved the petition.
She had told lawmakers in a letter that she was willing to allow searches of her homes in Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz and El Calafate on condition that they did not allow the searches to be filmed or photographed.
However, she complained that she was "going to be the first elected senator to be searched." Around 20 police officers entered Kirchner's Buenos Aires residence in the exclusive Recoleta neighborhood just after midday (1500 GMT), although local media said the searches of her other two homes were yet to begin.
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Kirchner was not present at her fifth-floor apartment, having spent Wednesday night at her daughter Florencia's home, her lawyer Gregorio Dalbon said.
However, another lawyer, Carlos Beraldi was left fuming after he was ejected from the apartment during the search on Bonadio's orders.
"This is a farce! It's a clear violation of the rule of law," said Beraldi, vowing to make a criminal complaint against Bonadio.
Simultaneously, police raided a convent on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where two years ago another Kirchner administration official, Jose Lopez, was caught red-handed trying to hide a bag containing eight million dollars in cash.
More than a dozen elite businessmen and former government officials were arrested after La Nacion newspaper reported on August 1 that millions in bribes were delivered by a ministerial chauffeur to Kirchner's residences, both during her presidency and that of her late husband Nestor.
The driver's meticulous records of the alleged cash deliveries form the basis of Bonadio's investigation.
According to driver Oscar Centeno's bombshell evidence, the Kirchners' residence in Buenos Aires was the venue for the handover of millions of dollars in cash, with others taking place at the Casa Rosada government headquarters and the Olivos official presidential residence.
Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli has said a total of $160 million in bribes was handed over during a 10-year period from 2005-15.
Earlier this month, Amado Boudou, a former vice president under Kirchner, was sentenced to almost six years in prison after he was found guilty of "passive bribery" and conduct "incompatible" with his duties as a public servant.
Kirchner is being investigated in five other cases, ranging from alleged foreign exchange manipulation to the signing of a memorandum with Tehran that Bonadio argues effectively protected Iranian suspects in the deadly 1994 bombing of Argentine Jewish centers.
She claims her political opponents are trying to derail a possible run for the presidency next year.
Still one of Argentina's most popular politicians, Kirchner said last week she was the victim of a right-wing effort across Latin America to discredit the work of previous leftist governments.
Ana Almiron of Kirchner's Front for Victory party questioned "the purpose and the need for the search." "They are trying to cover up the truth of what's happening in Argentina," she said, alluding to an economic crisis that has forced President Mauricio Macri to agree to a $50 billion International Monetary Fund loan.
Eduardo Costa, from Macri's center-right Cambiemos coalition, said it was time "to repair the damage that corruption and officials do to the Argentine people." On Tuesday night, thousands of people had demonstrated outside the Congress building, chanting: "Prison for Cristina!" and "Give back the money!" The next day, a handful of Kirchner supporters waved banners outside Congress.