Political-business corruption in «Salmon Patagonia»: Former mayor imprisoned for bribery network in Puerto Natales
- The political-business corruption that surrounds the case of bribery of LED luminaires, it is possible that it has spread to other situations related to tenders or permits for the operations of new companies without municipal patents linked to the expansion of the salmon industry cluster.
- The companies implement «agendas to co-opt officials, attempts to destabilize authorities that are not unconditional to them, or to assimilate social and community leaders, without any control from the central authorities or their parent companies over their actions.»
Magallanes Region, February 22, 2023 (ecoceano)– For the crimes of bribery and violation of secrecy, the former mayor of Puerto Natales, José Fernando Paredes Mansilla, was formalized and sent to prison. The controversial management of Paredes, who was mayor for 12 years, has plunged the Puerto Natales commune into a deep financial crisis due to the billions of pesos spent on unfinished public works, contracts that were not fulfilled, double payments to suppliers, infrastructure construction with serious deficiencies, and the existence of a network set up to appropriate tax money.
Political-business de facto powers in the Magellan «Far West»
Fernando Paredes, during his three terms as mayor, was simultaneously president of the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) of the Magallanes Region, and at the end of his term president of the Chilean Association of Municipalities.
Asked by #ElMagallanes about the participation of former mayor Paredes in this whole corruption situation, prosecutor Sebastián González replied that «according to the background we have, and the formalization we carried out, the truth is that he expressly accepted bribes for part of the company Itelecom.
In a 12-hour hearing, the Court of First Instance and Guarantee of the province of Ultima Esperanza, Magallanes Region, heard the facts exposed by the Prosecutor’s Office that revealed the alleged relationship between the former mayor Paredes, an official and the representatives of the Itelecom company, within a tender that had as its object the installation of Led luminaires in the commune of Puerto Natales.
It was pointed out that Itelcom, through the intermediary Cristián Ureta Bravo, “facilitated the offer and payment of bribes. In the case of Mr. Paredes, there was an acceptance regarding a bribe offered by Itelecom. In these circumstances he was formalized, considering the court that there was sufficient information regarding his participation, for which he was left in pretrial detention ”.
The investigation estimates that Itelcom would have spent more than 1.6 billion pesos to bribe public officials nationwide.
Along with Paredes, the owner of Itelecom, León Lefort Hernández; his partner Ricardo Rodríguez Bizama; Pedro Guerra Guerrero, head of the bidding area of the same company; Cristián Ureta Bravo, Itelcom lobbyist, and Cristián Seit Rojas.
Also included was Andrés Matulich Silva, a Natales municipal official, who, like Paredes, was formalized for bribery and breach of secrecy, and sent to prison.
The prosecutor has 4 months of investigation, until May 23, to investigate and see if he presents accusations against all the formalized people.
The “modus operandi” in Puerto Natales
The information provided indicates that the companies involved created links with officials within the municipalities, or with an operator that had influence within them. In this way, it was possible to modify the administrative bases, technical bases or the evaluation guideline of the tenders related to public lighting, in addition to obtaining the bases before they are published on the Public Market platform.
The information provided by the Prosecutor’s Office corresponds to statements, documents and wiretaps, all of which were sufficient to prove, at least in this early stage of the case, the eventual participation of the accused. At the beginning of the hearing, the media were prohibited from disclosing photographs, audios, and videos of the day, as well as from providing details that could be sensitive to the development of the investigation.
Unfair administration, tax fraud, embezzlement of public funds
Although the defense of the defendants insisted that there is no accreditation of an alleged receipt of resources by José Fernando Paredes, the prosecutor González pointed out that the delivery of money, or a certain amount, is «irrelevant», the mere offer or acceptance, because bribery is a dangerous crime.
In addition, he explained that the accused maintains another 4 current cases dating from 2020 and 2021, one corresponding to unfair administration, another for tax fraud and two to embezzlement of public funds. The crime of bribery as well as the violation of secrecy -which are the ones that Paredes and Matulich are accused of- have sentences that range between 541 days and 5 years each.
The «black box» of salmon financing networks to the activities of former mayor Paredes
The political-business corruption that surrounds the case of bribery of Led luminaires, it is possible that it has spread to other situations related to tenders or permits for the operations of new companies without municipal patents linked to the expansion of the salmon industry cluster . Such would be the case of the 5 billion pesos in public investment awarded for a sanitary landfill in Puerto Natales, which could contaminate a source of drinking water used by the citizens of Natales.
The current mayor Oyarzo points out that they are still collecting records of irregular situations that dragged on for years in this municipality, there being no information that allows us to know how public activities of former mayor Paredes were financed, and works for the community, which would have been carried out with contributions and money from large salmon farming companies located in the province. «During the last 12 years of the administration of the former mayor (Paredes), there is nothing to record that can quantify how much the industry contributed, and what it was spent on,» Mayor Antonieta Oyarzo told Reportajes T13.
These new information could motivate new extensions of the complaints for unfair administration and fraud against the Treasury carried out by the current mayor’s office in the courts of the region.
The distribution of 500 computers financed by transnational salmon companies
One of the most striking “social aid” activities carried out in March 2021 by former mayor Paredes was the “Natales se conecta” project, where through the Puerto Natales Municipal Education Corporation, he delivered 500 computers to community high schools, along with a free Internet connection for one year (sic).
This activity of great media coverage was carried out a month before the 2021 municipal elections, where Paredes had opted for a prudent withdrawal of his candidacy for a new re-election, after accusations of administrative irregularities, having delegated the continuity of his management in his co-religionist Ana Mayorga (UDI), former councilor on four occasions, and former governor of the province of Ultima Esperanza, who competed and lost against the current mayor Antonieta Oyarzo.
This promotional political activity by Paredes had the enthusiastic public support of the transnational salmon company Australis Seafoods (China) together with the Spanish company Movistar. They were joined by the companies Wellboat S.A., Pesquera Alvarez & Alvarez; Constructora De Vicente S.A.; CPT..; Inersa Innovation Energy S.A.; Sotralop (López Companies); Maqsur Machinery S.A.; Vilicic Construction; Jakoa SPA; IMA (Industria y Maestranza Austral Ltda.) and Transportes y Servicios Eugenio Vilicic Peña y Cía. Ltd.
Under the suggestive title of «There is room for the contribution of salmon farming to be greater (sic)», Paredes told salmonexpert.com that «the municipality has a cordial relationship, permanent dialogue and cooperation with the productive sectors with a presence in the commune. In the case of salmon farming, the largest collaborative work actions have taken place through SalmonChile, whom I take advantage of by recognizing and valuing their proactive role during this pandemic, with determined and timely collaborative actions, for example supporting fairs and markets , delivering sanitary kits, or supporting sanitary and social containment measures ”.
Ecoceanos Centre: Political-business corruption accompanies the salmon assault on Chilean Patagonia
According to the Ecoceanos Centre «the cases of corruption in the management of former mayor Paredes reveal the active or covert intervention of transnational salmon companies or belonging to family clans based in Santiago de Chile in the contingent policy in Magallanes».
This occurs when companies implement «agendas to co-opt officials, attempts to destabilize authorities that are not unconditional to them, or to assimilate social and community leaders, without any control from the central authorities or their parent companies over their actions.»
The citizen organization indicated that «social movements and consumer organizations must be alert to the corrupt and abusive actions of the salmon cluster in the Patagonian Regions of Magallanes, Aysén and Los Lagos, in which companies try to ensure the existence of authorities and services functional publics to their corporate interests, which allow them to continue with their destructive and exclusive territorial and productive expansion,” said Ecoceanos.
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