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The plaintiffs in the Asipes case questioned strongly in terms that the Prosecutor’s Office, after four years of investigations, did not prove that the contributions of the fishing industrialists to Bío Bío politicians make up the crimes of bribery and bribery. It has already been anticipated that at the hearing set for February in Santiago the reopening of the investigation will be requested.
As a new investigation for crimes of corruption that ends without those responsible and that involves politicians and groups of power, Senator Alejandro Navarro described the decision of the Public Ministry of dismiss and do not persevere in the case of those responsible for Asipes and the companies that contributed millions of pesos to parliamentarians, former deputies and government officials.
Who just gave the first information on the alleged influence of fishing industry in Bío Bío legislators was the communist deputy, Hugo Gutiérrez.
Consulted by the decision of the Bío Bío Regional Prosecutor’s Office of close the case without formalizationHe said that it seemed shameful to him that this conclusion was reached after four years of investigations and despite all the evidence collected.
And among those politicians against whom the regional prosecutor Marcela Cartagena was unable to obtain evidence to press charges are Senator Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, of the UDI; the RN deputy, Frank Sauerbaum, the former undersecretary of Fisheries, the socialist Raúl Súnico and the former PPD deputy Cristian Campos.
Once officially notified of the resolution that closes the investigation, the complainants began to analyze the steps to follow, with the lawyer Enrique Hernández already deciding, by the Interempresas Union of Shipworkers, request the reopening of the investigation and achieve the formalization of those responsible for the reported bribery and bribery.
Other plaintiffs on behalf of artisanal fishermen, the lawyer Pablo Manríquez, assured that this investigation revealed the influence of power groups such as Asipes on the work of the Congress, slipping that he does not rule out insisting that all those who were investigated be prosecuted.
There were almost four years of investigation, first directly in charge of the regional prosecutor, Julio Contardo, and a special group of the PDI, a team dissolved when the current head of the Public Ministry in Bío Bío took over, who delegated to the Anticorruption prosecutor, María José Aguayo, the proceedings from 2018.
The origin
The origin of the Asipes Case emerges as an edge for the payments that performed Corpesca to the deputy Marta Isasi and to the senator Jaime Orpis.
The former UDI senator was charged with receiving payments for more than $ 230 million from the fishery, to benefit private interests in the discussion of the Fishing Law.
That was in the north, in the southern zone it sounded Asipes, and in the southern part of the country Fipes signed up for it at that time deputy Iván Fuentes, known former social leader.
In the Bío Bío the payment of millionaire contributions to the campaigns of senators and deputies was investigated, to intervene in the questioned Law. The main defendants: Jacqueline van Rysselberghe, Frank Sauerbaum; the former undersecretary of Fisheries, the socialist Raúl Súnico and the former deputy PPD Cristian Campos.
The former mayor Jorge Ulloa had to testify in witness qualityWhile Luis Felipe Mondaca, former president of the Association of Fisheries Industries (Asipes), was identified as the architect of the contacts for the parliamentarians to vote in favor of the companies.
But let’s go back to the beginning. It was in 2017, in the middle of the investigation by Corpesca, that it was reported that another investigation would be carried out, after an Excel spreadsheet was found with 18 politicians on an Asipes computer. The team was at the home of Luis Felipe Mondaca, the aforementioned lobbyist and former leader of Asipes.
Some of the documents found on the computer showed contributions from seven companies to a list of 20 politicians, for a total of $ 98.901.919.
Other payments to political actors
But no, these were the only names that sounded at the time. A series of payments was also pointed out, including advisers to parliamentarians and authorities for “favors” to companies that were part of the union.
Some were the following: Bernardo Caro, advisor to the late Senator Antonio Horvath; advisers to Carlos Bianchi; the brothers Nicolás and Gustavo Guíñez, who issued ballots within Pablo Longueira’s circle.
Deputy Fuad Chaín would have issued ballots for about two million pesos, prior to being elected and according to him, by legal advice, while among other “beneficiaries” Raúl Súnico and Sergio Camus were mentioned.
Arturo Squella, Juan Antonio Coloma, Patricio Contreras (linked to Pablo Longueria), the former mayor of Lota, Patricio Marchant and Alfredo Irarrázaval, were also mentioned in the payments.
The controversial “emails”
It was in March 2017 when parliamentarian Hugo Gutiérrez filed a complaint against Senator Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, through emails he received from Asipes, just when the controversial Fisheries Law was being processed, in addition to the alleged links with Luis Mondaca, who was general manager of the association.
The complaint aimed at supposed instructions during the processing and ideologically false ballots, which would have been revealed by a former adviser.
“We seek to prove that there was a coordination, not only by the industry, but from other political sectors, to protect the interests of the fishing industry, “said Matías Ramírez, Gutiérrez’s lawyer at the time.
Persecutor change
In August 2018, Julio Contardo left the position of regional prosecutor of Bío Bío, since he was assumed by Marcela cartagena.
During the “change of command”, Cartagena assured that the investigation it would not be transferred to the area, as some defendants had requested.
Contardo’s last diligence in office was taking statements from former fishing entrepreneurs, such as Jean Stengel and his brothers.
One of the main criticisms of the complainants, such as the leader Hernán Cortés, was the slowness of investigation headed by Julio Contardo.
Everything was slow, cumbersome, tangled. We hope that in this last section of the investigation (…) you can have a little more agility
– Hernan Cortes
The UDI triad
Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, Sergio Bobadilla and Jorge Ulloa, all leaders of the UDI in the Bío Bío, were controversial during the case.
First Bobadilla. In his case, the Public Ministry had to request the statement through the courts of the deputy in the Asipes case, after he refused to give testimony voluntarily.
Its justification? According to the parliamentarian, he had no problem declaring, but an advisory group advised him not to, at least not voluntarily.
“There is no problem in declaring about any case. However, this is a legal matter and, it seemed appropriate that the Prosecutor’s Office used exactly the path that the law indicates for the testimony of witnesses who have the quality of parliamentarians, ”Bobadilla said at the time.
For his part, Jorge Ulloa testified as a witness in the case, despite the fact that his advisers, according to the investigation, had issued ballots.
Finally Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe testified as a defendant in the investigation for possible crimes of bribery and tax fraud.
During his statement, he explained the emails he exchanged with Luis Mondaca, when he was president of the Senate Committee on Fisheries. All this happened while changes to the bill were discussed, regarding the extraction of horse mackerel.
“For me, the first year as a legislator they spoke to me in Chinese, so what I did was, given the intellectual trust with Luis Felipe (Mondaca) and since it did not affect the industrial sector mainly, except for the eventual collapse of the species in in case of illegal fishing, I I asked him if it was reasonable what the shipowners said and if the risk that they saw from this capture outside of the global quota was effective, “said the senator, in statements quoted by La Tercera.
Along these lines, Van Rysselberghe added: “Luis Felipe told me that it was a real risk and that as industrialists they were willing to give part of their quota to small artisans. It seemed to me that he could advise me, because the project did not affect them. I spoke with Luis Felipe when the subject began to be discussed, it was my turn to chair the commission and I wanted to know what was being talked about ”.
JVR added that Mondaca was advising him, and that the comments or “modifications” were only the opinion of the union regarding the project.
During the statement, Van Rysselberghe discarded contributions of fishing companies.
And everything came to nothing
As reported by Radio Bío Bío, now it will take about five months so that details are just known of how, after all the years of investigation in the Asipes case, nothing was reached.
This after last week, the prosecutor Marcela Cartagena resolved the closure of the investigation of the edge, por not having collected enough evidence for an indictment against those involved.
While some defendants were dismissed, such as Felipe Mondaca, in others the power to don’t persevere with research.
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