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Journalist Mauricio Weibel, author of the book “Betrayal of the Nation”, which in 2016 revealed the embezzlement in the Chilean Army with money from the Reserved Copper Law, said this Tuesday to Cooperative which is evaluating legal actions against the former defense minister Alberto Espina placeholder image, current member of the State Defense Council (CDE), for the alleged cover-up of the espionage of which he was a victim in 2017 by the military institution.
“I am considering asking for Alberto Espina to be prosecuted for a cover-up. He told all the media that this was perfectly legal. He gave a press conference about it and it is evident that this is false.”, Weibel announced after the Journalistic Research Center (Ciper) reveal that the National Intelligence Directorate of the armed entity (DINE) deceived the judge Juan Poblete, Minister of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, when requesting a judicial authorization to tap his telephone.
According to the report of Cyprus, in September 2017 the then Director of Intelligence, General Schafik Nazal, sent the magistrate a request for authorization to carry out wiretapping of an alleged foreign agent who was looking for “strategic antecedents” on the armed institution, in a operation named “W”.
The judge approved it, not knowing that the cell phone number written on that document was Weibel’s.
In August 2019, Operation W was endorsed before the Control Commission of the State Intelligence System of the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies by the now former Director of Army Intelligence, General Guillermo Paiva, and by the then Minister of Defense, Alberto Espina placeholder image, who He assured that all intelligence activities were carried out within the framework of the law.
At the time of listening to the author of “Traición a la Patria”, the commander-in-chief of the Army was Humberto Oviedo (2014-2018), prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds from reserved expenses.
“I believe that the Army tried to maintain a lie that has already fallen apart; maintain the lie that there was a reason here to spy on the press, when it is obvious and evident that what there was was an intelligence operation to attack those of us who were investigating corruption within the Armed Forces “Weibel stated.
“With my lawyers, Karina Fernández and Cristián Cruz, we filed a complaint a few days ago based on the fact that this situation had already been revealed in 2019 and I think there will be a lot of news, “said the professional.
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After knowing the publication of Ciper, the deputy Jorge Brito, a member of the Democratic Revolution – part of the Broad Front – and a member of the Lower House State Intelligence System Control Commission, requested the departure of former minister Espina from the CDE.
“We know that the authorization was given with deception by the Army and, consequently, Minister Espina, who so many times went to the National Congress to say that operations W and Topographer (the latter, listening to four soldiers who denounced alleged irregularities within the armed institution), were in accordance with the law He has to give the explanations, “said the legislator.
The deputy Maya fernandez, from the Socialist Party bench and member of the Chamber’s Defense Commission, lashed out that “clearly it cannot happen that a minister goes to a commission to expose and does not raise this fact that occurs, given its seriousness, and finally passes for high. It does not correspond in a democracy. “
“Imagine, deceiving a magistrate of the Court of Appeals to be able to tap the telephone of journalist Mauricio Weibel does not correspond to a democracy and we do not know if it is the only case where it has happened. This is very serious and the former minister Espina has to give explanations, especially because he came to the commission “emphasized the congresswoman.
To the date, more than 1,000 uniformed men have gone through the courts due to the so-called “Milicogate”, one of the most serious corruption cases discovered in recent years in addition to “Pacogate”, the embezzlement by the Carabineros of almost 30,000 million pesos.
