The defense of Marco Enríquez-Ominami (ME-O) presented his arguments before the Third Oral Criminal Trial Court of Santiago, within the framework of a new day of the opening arguments of the oral trial for bribery and tax offenses in the SQM case.
Specifically, lawyer Ciro Colombara accused that both the Public Ministry and the Internal Revenue Service (SII) have acted partially, thus favoring ME-O contenders, when he was a presidential candidate.
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Colombara pointed out that “the investigation has been crooked, partial, has irregularly protected some and has attacked others. Regarding the accusations, which are made against (ME-O), he was not aware of a specific invoice, of a certain amount, but obviously had general information about the financial aspects of his campaign.
In this sense, the defender explained that in a presidential campaign, the candidates do various tasks 24 hours a day, so they delegate functions. In view of the above, Colombara pointed out that “it is impossible, it is irrational, it is contrary to the maxims of experience, to pretend that a candidate can do everything, among other things, worry about the details of the administration.”
“By becoming the most respected candidate in October 2014, let’s think that this case began in February 2015, obviously threatening both the candidates of the right and of the Concertación, who were those favored or protected in the investigation of the Public Ministry and in the complaints filed by the Internal Revenue Service. The truth is that Mr. Enríquez-Ominami did not issue invoices, did not sell them or provide them, and regarding the accusation in relation to the year 2009, having only complained many years later, evidently there is prescription,” added Colombara.
On the other hand, the defense lawyer questioned the inequality regarding the treatment of other defendants in the SQM case, where it was decided not to persevere in the investigation of 51 people, another 127 were offered conditional suspension of the proceedings and 68 were directly dismissed. And 10 people were sentenced in abbreviated procedures.
“In addition, there were two dismissals rejected because the conducts that Mr. Enríquez-Ominami is accused of are not crimes, and with the evidence that both the Public Ministry and the Internal Revenue Service in this investigation have acted in a crooked and irregular manner, protecting powerful politicians and businessmen, refusing to investigate them,” Colombara said.
Finally, the defense requested ME-O’s acquittal, appealing to his innocence, alluding to the fact that “this case has exceeded -by far- the reasonable term according to the standards of international human rights law.”
Colombara also requested a cost order for both the Prosecutor’s Office and the SII, stating that “there has been frivolity, partiality and manipulation” by state entities.
They ask for the acquittal of Cristián Warner
During the same day of arguments before the Third Criminal Oral Trial Court of Santiago, lawyer Aldo Díaz requested the acquittal of the former Secretary General of the Progressive Party (PRO), Cristián Warner. The defender argued that the former key adviser to ME-O is innocent and that the investigation against him is “abusive, long and tedious”.
Pointing out that “some have been persecuted and others have been released”, Warner’s defense accused a “selective persecution” by the Public Ministry and the Internal Revenue Service (SII).” This is unacceptable”, sentenced the lawyer, along with explaining how the process has affected his client.
“Mr. Warner, for more than two years, is going to be forced to be in a trial permanently, a trial that eventually has a defect of origin and that could eventually be annulled, because we are working on the basis of a draft of of opening complemented with certifications of a minister of faith, not of a judge. And only for this fact is that we request the acquittal, because we are in the presence of a trial that has a flawed start and that the subsequent trial will eventually be annulled, “he snapped. the lawyer Aldo Diaz.
Therefore, he added, “with its selective decisions, together with the obsession of grouping these investigations, in short, we are in the presence of an unprecedentedly long trial, and this is the corollary of the context of an investigation and a rarefied process.”
“Warner has not committed a crime, he is innocent, because he never acted intentionally and with the purpose of generating tax damage or with the purpose or objective of committing a tax crime,” said the defender.
It is worth mentioning that the accusation against Warner states that “in order to receive contributions from third parties and make through these operational payments typical of the political activity of the PRO and the campaigns of the same party, Warner Communications, Publicity and Marketing took part and used the company CPCA”. For the same purpose, adds the accusation, it acquired the company Cono Sur Research.
Given this, the defense of Cristián Warner points out that all these actions and facts were not constitutive on the date of the occurrence of the crimes and were only after the modification in 2016 of Law 19,884 on Transparency, Limits and Control of Electoral Expenditure. So, faced with this situation, that these types of acts were not constituting a crime and only an administrative fault, “the Public Ministry and the SII artificially try to fit into the criminal types of the Tax Code conducts that were not constituting a crime to the date, persecuting them selectively”, stressed the lawyer Aldo Díaz.
Below is the opening pleadings session of the SQM case on February 27, 2023.
