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Julio Ponce, the SQM shareholder sanctioned in 2014 for his role in the Cascadas Case, paid the fine this week which was finally filed against him by the offenses committed in a series of stock transactions between 2009 and 2011. Although the Superintendency of Securities and Insurance (SVS) had sanctioned it in 2014 with 1.7 million UF (equivalent to US $ 64 million, at this week’s values), the The Constitutional Court determined in 2018 that the maximum penalty he should have received was 75 thousand UF (about US $ 2.8 million). That decision was later endorsed by the Courts of Appeals and, in a split decision, by the Supreme Court.
Y Julio Ponce closed the chapter this week. From his personal account at Banco Santander, Julio Ponce Lerou made an interbank transfer for $ 2,152,212,620 this Monday to the account that the 18th Civil Court of Santiago has in the Banco del Estado. The figure is equivalent to 74,500 UF to the value of that indicator on Monday. The remaining 500 UF had been consigned to the General Treasury of the Republic by Ponce in September 2014, when he went to court to claim the original fine from the SVS.
Jorge Bofill, Ponce attorney, presented the documentation a day later in the 18 Civil Court, the court where Ponce’s claim was first processed. That court upheld in 2016 the violations of the securities and public limited companies laws and the fine of 1.7 million UF. However, the Court of Appeals reduced the penalty to 75 thousand UF in 2019. This is because the TC determined that the rule that allowed the SVS to set a fine of up to 30% of an irregular operation was unconstitutional. Finally, the Supreme Court ratified by 3 to 2 the ruling of the Court of Appeals. That was October 2. On October 30, the Court of Appeals ordered compliance, which left the judgment of justice final. And from there, Ponce had 10 days to pay the fine. One day before the end of the term, he transferred the money.
Bofill asked Tuesday to certify that the court’s checking account contains the transfer for the $ 2,152 million. And he also asked to calculate the interest that Ponce still has to pay. The law sets monthly interests of 1.5% (18% per year) and Bofill asked the court to calculate that figure since February 2019, when the Court of Appeals reduced the penalty, and not since September 2014, when Ponce initiated his judicial claim. . “It is the date of notification of the second instance judgment that must be considered for purposes of calculating interest”Says Jorge Bofill’s writing.
