[News] Prosecutor and CDE assess verdict in Corpesca case and defense of Orpis regrets conviction for bribery

[FNX Magokiler]

The prosecuting entity described the resolution as "highly satisfactory", while the Council stressed that the criminal responsibility of the company be recognized. For his part, the former senator's lawyer pointed out that this

Different reactions generated the verdict issued today by the Third Oral Criminal Court of Santiago in the Corpesca case, which refers to the investigation for irregular financing of political campaigns during the processing of the Fishing Law. Six years into the investigation and almost 1 year and eight months into the trial, the court decided to convict former UDI senator Jaime Orpis of bribery and tax fraud, and absolve him of tax crimes. Likewise, he condemned former deputy Marta Isasi for bribery and for bribery the company Corpesca SA.

Given this, the persecutor of High Complexity Central North, Jaime Retamal, assured that as an investigative team "we are satisfied": "We believe that the decision is highly satisfactory since it accepted a large part of the proposals of the prosecution in relation to the existence of bribery crimes with respect to a senator and a deputy at the time of the events ". "We also found it highly valuable that the court had established the criminal responsibility of the legal entity of Corpesca, in relation to the bribery crimes that were proven," he added. The president of the State Defense Council (CDE), Juan Antonio Peribonio, also referred to the latter, who highlighted the situation of Corpesca SA. "This is an unprecedented fact, since it is the first time that a legal person has been sentenced in oral proceedings. Until now, the sentences had been produced through abbreviated procedures," said the authority of the body that participated as complainant .

 

 

"For the CDE this is a very important verdict, which accounts for a joint work of our agency with the Public Ministry throughout the entire judicial process," Peribonio closed. For his part, the lawyer Sergio Rodríguez, who represents Orpis, assured that "obviously we are not satisfied": "Our proposal was that the crime of bribery had not been committed, and so we will study later, when the failure, the antecedents in order to appeal to the superior antecedents. "

The litigant also stressed that, according to Orpis, he "never sold his vote." The sentence, and therefore the sanctions to be applied, will be communicated in April of next year, taking into account the length of the process and the amount of information presented to the court. Tomorrow the sentence determination hearing will begin, an opportunity in which, among other situations, aggravating and mitigating circumstances will be alleged. "This has been hard work, a trial in which the litigation lasted much more than a year and in which numerous testimonial, documentary and e-mails evidence was exhibited, as well as numerous expert reports, for which we consider that the result is widely satisfactory. "Retamal closed. This is the first case for irregular financing of the policy that has reached oral proceedings. The investigation involving the mining company SQM, meanwhile, is awaiting the hearing to prepare for the oral trial.