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Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’s former legal adviser accused over misuse of funds as presidential ally fears election backlash For more than 30 years the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have been a symbol of courage against adversity and the enduring battle against injustice. Clad in white headscarves, the Mothers first appeared during the dark days of the Argentine dictatorship, a group of ordinary women valiantly facing down a brutal military government as they silently marched in front of Argentina’s national congress demanding information about their missing children. But now the headscarf has slipped as the Mothers have become engulfed in a corruption scandal that has stunned Argentina and could threaten to destabilise President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her government, just five months before national elections. Last week the group was forced to fire on of its most high-profile executives over alleged misuse of funds meant for government-backed social housing projects. Prosecutors accuse the group’s former legal adviser Sergio Schoklender, his brother and more than a dozen others of fraud and money laundering and of siphoning off substantial chunks of public money into personal businesses. Media reports allege that while Schoklender earned the equivalent of £13,000 to help Argentina’s poor, he acquired an 18-room mansion, a yacht and sports car. Shocklender denies any wrongdoing. Kirchner was reportedly furious when news of the scandal broke, particularly with her close association with the group. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo split into two factions in 1986, and the largest and most powerful group – headed by the 82-year old Hebe de Bonafini – is a huge political ally and public relations tool of her administration. Kirchner’s late husband and former president Nestor Kirchner went to great lengths to establish close ties with Bonafini and the Mothers, an alliance continued by her government after she was elected in 2007. Few political rallies are complete without a white headscarf appearing prominetly next to the president, who has staked much of her public reputation on championing human rights. Kirchner’s government has also helped the Mothers transform themselves from an advocacy group into a powerful anti-poverty organisation. Since Bonafini declared in 2006 that “there is no longer an enemy in the Casa Rosada [Argentina's seat of government]“, the Kirchner cabinet has handed the Mothers over 187m pesos (£28m) to complete thousands of social housing projects. Last week opposition politicians claimed that only 35% of these projects have so far been completed and that the Mothers and federal officials had shown a shocking failure of responsibility to the Argentine people. Influential union leaders and the heads of other human rights groups including Las Abuelas, the group of grandmothers working to identify babies stolen from political prisoners during the dirty war (1976-83), have all called for Bonafini to be formally investigated. Bonafini, who helped found the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo after the disappearance of her two sons and daughter-in-law, denies knowledge of any wrongdoing and has accused the Schoklender brothers of being “traitors and scammers”. “The Schoklenders are one thing and the Mothers are a completely different thing,” she told Argentine national radio. “We personally carried on with the battle to vindicate our children … and no one is going to hurt our public image.” Government officials are struggling to contain the scandal and preserve the integrity of the group’s public reputation. Argentina’s foreign minister Héctor Timerman stated that any attack on Bonafini was inextricably an attack on the government itself. As the scandal gathers pace, some analysts have suggested it could cause Kirchner to delay announcing whether she will run for re-election in October as her party frantically works to distance itself from the allegations. Argentina Human rights Annie Kelly guardian.co.uk