The Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, asked the Seventh Warranty Court of Santiago for a 42-day extension to deliver the emails to the Centro Norte Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office, as part of the investigation against government authorities for covid-19 deaths.
According to Cooperativa, prosecutor Xavier Armendáriz wishes to have access to emails from former Health Minister Jaime Mañalich, Undersecretary of Public Health Paula Daza and former Minsal chief of staff Itziar Linazasoro.
Minister Paris refused this request, arguing that the delivery of this information posed a risk to national security, so the Supreme Court had to intervene and determined the partial delivery of emails to the prosecution, with the exception of those related to “the acquisition of essential and strategic implements and inputs to address the pandemic”, in addition to the “destination of personnel and military and police resources to strategic and logistical work related to the Covid-19”.
Now, the head of the Minsal asked for an extension of 42 working days to deliver the emails, when the court had set three, arguing the large number of emails (about 49 thousand).
The Secretary of State noted in the letter that this task “by its nature and importance, must be performed by trained personnel of the Ministry of Health, under strict security measures, in a conditioned and suitable room to ensure the success of this room”.
“After the previous process, in particular, to diligently review such a number of emails, as a Ministry we would need at least 10 lawyers trained for this work, each reviewing 4,900 emails, which would involve at least 28 business days of exclusive work (…) not counting the it-trained staff (…) and the logistics to be employed,” he said.
