The Atacama Prosecutor’s Office asked the Court of Appeals of Copiapó to remove the immunity of Deputy Jaime Mulet (FRVS). This, within the framework of the investigation against the parliamentarian for the crime of passive bribery.
The Public Ministry is carrying out an investigation into the crimes of bribery and bribery, linked to a transaction contract signed by Minera Candelaria and the municipality of Tierra Amarilla -when Mulet was advising the mayor of the commune, Osvaldo Delgado-, in the context of environmental conflicts that occurred in that town.
The hearing to formalize Mulet was rescheduled three times. In the last one – which would be held on April 5, 2022 – the deputy did not appear. His defense alluded that he would attend once he was released.
Given this refusal, the Prosecutor’s Office requested the removal of Mulet’s immunity, “in order to compel the parliamentarian to appear at the formalization hearing and in this way, prevent said investigation from continuing to be unjustifiably delayed,” the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
“During the ongoing investigation, it has been possible to formalize and obtain personal precautionary measures against several of those accused of the crimes investigated, with the sole exception of Deputy Mulet, for having refused to attend the formalization hearing that is pending,” added the persecuting entity.
The case
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the former mayor of Tierra Amarilla Osvaldo Delgado (deceased), arranged and advised by the lawyers Jaime Mulet (now deputy), Ramón Briones and Hernán Bosselin, requested and accepted with violation of the duties of the position, the payment of economic benefits for the municipality and third parties, on behalf of the contractual company Minera Candelaria, agreeing to a transaction contract on environmental damage, in contravention of the law.
In this contract, the municipality renounced or did not persevere in the action of reparation of environmental damages produced in the commune by the mining company; undertook to inform the OECD, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the parties had reached an agreement; declare and recognize without reservation the non-existence of environmental damage alleged in lawsuits, complaints or existing actions based on a new study in which it was indicated that no such damages existed or had not been caused by Candelaria.
For the Prosecutor’s Office, the behaviors displayed by the team of lawyers made up of Mulet, Briones and Bosselin were transformed into urging the former mayor Quevedo to accept the economic benefits for third parties in exchange for breaching the duties of his position.
For the Public Ministry, the three actively collaborated in the conduct of the mayor by having a decisive role deployed in their own acts in negotiation and drafting of this illegal transaction.
The economic benefit requested by the exedil after advising the aforementioned team of lawyers, reached the sum of $ 7 million dollars, of which, $ 3 million dollars remained in municipal coffers and the remaining $ 4 million dollars, on behalf of the municipality, but without going through the municipal coffers, were destined to the payment of fees of the advisors and lawyers Briones and Bosselin.
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