The historical general manager of Soquimich, Patrick Contessehas completed almost seven years of the precautionary measure of house arrest in the framework of the SQM Case, the mega-scandal of irregular financing of politics.
The first antecedents of the case were known in 2015, as the edge of the Penta Case, where the holding company irregularly financed the campaigns of UDI representatives.
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The former general manager of SQM served six years, nine months and 21 days under house arrest this Monday. This, without him yet starting the oral trial against him, which has already been about nine months in preparation.
The time that Contesse has spent with the precautionary house arrest, will be counted in the sentence that she will have to serve. According to slogan The Third PMContesse has already served the sentence requested by the Internal Revenue Service (SII): five years in prison.
Prosecution and oral trial
Regarding the process of preparing the oral trial, the Prosecutor’s Office presented 14,609 documents, 651 witnesses and 52 experts as evidence.
The same Supreme Court, in a resolution in which it rejects an amparo appeal presented by Contesse’s defense, indicates the “superabundant” evidence offered by the Public Ministry.
“Even when the processing of the case with respect to the protected party has been extended for an excessive period of time, with an impact on said delay due to the abundant evidence offered by the persecuting entity itself and the decision to group the investigations, what was requested by the appellant exceeds the scope of protection. that protects the amparo action, which is intended to safeguard personal freedom and individual security,” the resolution indicates.
Even the State Defense Council (CDE) asked the Guarantee Court last week to annul the precautionary measure of night house arrest -currently in force for Contesse-. The Prosecutor’s Office and the SII acquiesced to this.
However, the Public Ministry left the decision to the discretion of the court, to which Judge Leonardo Valdivieso slipped a criticism.
“When the accusers leave the precautionary measure to the decision of the court, what they ultimately do is renounce their claim to the need for precaution (…) the truth is that they renounce their claim to the existence of each and every one of the requirements of the precautionary measure, therefore, it is not an issue that can be left to the discretion of the court, because the court cannot decree any precautionary measure,” he indicated, lifting the prohibition of the precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the lawyer representing Contesse, Samuel Donosostated that he finds the position of the Public Ministry “absolutely irrational. The waste of fiscal resources is brutal. Six prosecutors every day in court, including the regional prosecutor herself (claudia perivancich), abandoning more important cases in Viña and Valparaíso, is, in my opinion, unusual.
