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False tickets and invoices, withdrawals of millions and millions withdrawn from the bank to bribe public officials is the way the Itelecom company worked, which won bids in at least 20 municipalities for the installation of Led lights. Its top executives are formalized for crimes of corruption due to events that occurred in both Iquique and Chillán.
The person who revealed the tax tangle is Leonardo Bustos Abarzúa -caused for bribery-, one of the directors of Itelecom, in an 8-page statement given to prosecutors Nayalet Mansilla and Paulina Valdebenito, whose full copy publishes the Radio Bío Bío Research Unit.
Read the full statement
Bustos Abarzúa reveals that the owner of Itelecom, Marcelo Lefort – formalized for bribery – began in 2017 to work with Víctor Amado, a businessman linked to the garbage business in Chillán. Also, according to Bustos, they were friends.
“When he introduces us (…) he tells us here is Víctor Amado, a person who has helped us with led lights. This was in mid-2018, when Amado went to look for him to go to lunch, “he said.
“Marcelo (Lefort) pointed out that Víctor Amado had all the contacts for municipal businesses, that he knows how to do business and that he knew how to get where he should go. The change in the company after the arrival of Amado won more bids. He boasted, pointing out that he was teaching us to sell (…) and that he came to the company to help make the sales. I heard this from him at a lunch we had (…) ”, he added in his statement as a way of collaborating and reducing a possible penalty.
The money withdrawn in cash from the company’s bank accounts would amount to $ 607 million, which was withdrawn in cash and kept in the Itelecom safe. Meanwhile, said Bustos, in the case of the payment of bribes they would amount to $ 1,659 million.
“He told me that they needed a lot of money to pay. I never knew for whom or for what, now that everything came to light that it was to pay bribes. “
The owner of the company got money wherever he went, says Bustos. One of those ways was to issue “false invoices.” He did it with a school attorney, George Latrille. He paid him a million pesos that he would later bring back from the bank. He did so for about a year.
The achievement of invoices continued, according to Bustos, with the firms Agenda Municipalista, Constructora PDH, Transmeter to obtain more than 123 million.
Energy
Another of the facts that the prosecution is investigating today is the participation of Paul Pacheco, who worked at the Ministry of Energy and advised Itelecom.
According to the account of former director Bustos, Pacheco tried to set up an office, but was asking for a large sum of $ 120 million. This is followed by a network of transfers between companies triangulating the money.
“Pacheco charged for an advice and the suspicion that I have in light of the facts is that Marcelo (Lefort) had a debt with him for $ 100 million that he owed him since Pacheco was in the Ministry,” he said.
Collaborating with the investigation, Bustos delivered a series of documents, including one that establishes that Itelecom spent more than 1,659 million pesos just to bribe public officials.
The Jadue case
On January 9, La Tercera revealed wiretaps made by the Public Ministry to Marcelo Lefort. According to the article, the latter spoke with Ramón Sepúlveda, the then lawyer for the mayor of Recoleta, Daniel Jadue.
According to Bustos, municipal officials came to the Itelecom office, but their identities were unknown.
Bustos confirmed that Lefort was in direct contact with Sepúlveda and that the firm deposited 50 million as a donation for the Womad festival held by the communal headquarters.
Although the contributions received the corresponding certifications, according to Bustos there was a pending report with 144 observations to the Led lights project that cost more than $ 8,000 million to the municipal treasury, which in his opinion were rectified at full speed.
“It is very rare that 144 observations are corrected so quickly and that the letter also coincides with the date of the donation (…) there is a relationship of friendship between Marcelo (Lefort) and Jadue”, assures Bustos.
A few weeks ago the prosecution raided the Recoleta Municipality offices, taking documentation and computers that are being examined by the police.
Jadue has indicated that everything is in order and will collaborate with the investigation.
Long list
Currently, the former administrator of the building, Ricardo Vallejos, for the crimes of bribery and violation of secrecy, are formalized in the investigation for corruption in Led lights in the Municipality of Chillán.
He is followed by Marcelo Campos, former legal adviser and former judge of the Local Police of the Pemuco commune, for the crime of bribery.
Marcelo Lefort, the owner of Itelecom; Pedro Guerra, assistant manager; Ricardo Rodríguez, commercial manager, and Heriberto Bustos, administration and finance, all for bribery of public officials.
In the Iquique ridge, the councilors of the town hall, Mitchel Cartes (PS), Felipe Arenas (UDI), Arsenio Lozano (PR) and Guillermo Cejas (Ind) face charges for the crimes of repeated bribery, money laundering and tax fraud.
In this case, Lefort for the crimes of repeated bribery, money laundering, illicit association and tax fraud, as well as Pedro Guerra, deputy manager of the company.
The payroll of those formalized in the north is closed by Mario Villalobos, Marcos Contreras, Martín Vargas, for the crime of repeated bribery, and Cristián Ureta, for the crimes of repeated bribery, money laundering, illicit association and tax fraud.
Finally, the edge relative to the Municipality of Negrete has the formalization of charges against David Encina Fonseca, head of the Planning Secretariat (Secplan), for the crime of bribery, and the mayor, Francisco Melo, for the crimes of bribery and violation of secrecy
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