POLITICS-CHILE: Ruling Leftist Coalition in Corruption Hot Seat

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Gustavo González

SANTIAGO, Nov 28 2002 (IPS) - The centre-left coalition that has governed Chile since 1990 is enduring its lowest moment as five of its lawmakers have been stripped of their legal immunity in a corruption scandal, leaving it with only a one-vote lead over the right-wing opposition in the lower house of Congress.

In response to a Tuesday court ruling that removed their legislative immunity and temporarily suspends them from their congressional seats, the five deputies have begun legal action before the Supreme Court of Justice.

The scandal has shaken up Chilean society and the Ricardo Lagos government, as the country – under the left-leaning coalition – has tended to rank among the 20 least corrupt countries in the world, according to the public perception index published yearly by the Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International.

The Appeals Court in Rancagua, a city south of Santiago, decided that legal bases exist for indicting legislative deputies Jaime Jiménez and Cristián Pareto, of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Juan Pablo Letelier, of the Socialist Party (PS), Víctor Manuel Rebolledo, of the Pro-Democracy Party (PPD) and Eduardo Lagos, of the Radical Social Democratic Party (PRSD).

According to the charges, the lawmakers engaged in crimes of bribery, influence peddling and illicit association with the owners of the companies entrusted with issuing the certificates that authorise the circulation and registration of motor vehicles in Chile.

The petition to remove legislative immunity from prosecution, filed by investigative judge Carlos Aránguiz before the Rancagua Appeals Court, also included deputy Aníbal Pérez, of the PPD, but the court found that there was not enough evidence to indict him.

Aránguiz says the court will determine whether the lawmakers received or asked for payoffs from entrepreneurs in exchange for licenses to issue the vehicle inspection certificates.

The five who were indicted have five days to file appeals with the Supreme Court. If the high court upholds the Appeals Court’s ruling, they will automatically be suspended from their congressional duties to face trial.

As a result of Tuesday’s decision, the lawmakers may enter the Congress building in Valparaiso (120 km west of Santiago), use their offices and receive their paycheques, but they are temporarily prohibited from attending congressional sessions, voting or sponsoring legislative bills, pending the Supreme Court decision.

These circumstances have left the Chamber of Deputies in a virtual tie between the governing coalition, known as the ‘Concertación’ of democratic parties, which now has 58 acting deputies, and the opposition right-wing bloc, the Alliance for Chile, which holds 57 seats. There are 120 seats in the lower house.

The "caso coimas" (kickback case), as it is known here, erupted Oct 18 when business executive Carlos Filippi, concession-holder of the vehicle inspection operations in Rancagua, told the right- leaning magazine Qué Pasa that payments were made in 2000 to current lawmaker Rebolledo and to then-vice-minister of Transport, Patricio Tombolini.

Rebolledo, elected PPD deputy in December 2001, was until October also vice-president of that party, which initially punished him for the corruption allegations by suspending his party activities.

Taking more drastic steps, the PDC expelled Jiménez and Pareto from its ranks, when just weeks after Filippi’s denunciations – and apparently provoked by the publicity of the matter – it was found that the two had blackmailed another director of a vehicle inspection unit.

In contrast, deputy Letelier received unconditional support from the Socialist Party leadership, reaffirmed Wednesday by party president Camilo Escalona.

Letelier is the best known of the five lawmakers caught up in the scandal as he is the son of former foreign minister Orlando Letelier, who served under Salvador Allende, and was assassinated in 1976 in Washington in a terrorist attack ordered by the repressive forces of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973- 1990).

In addition to the five, judge Aránguiz is also going after three former government officials, including former Transport official Tombolini, who was PRSD president until early October.

Minister Heraldo Muñoz, of the Government General Secretariat, commented Tuesday only that the situation is "complicated", ostensibly referring to the fact that President Lagos is left without a solid political base in the Chamber of Deputies.

However, Muñoz did confirmthat the president’s position on the case is that it is up to the courts to determine what crimes were committed and who is responsible, and that they will do so without interference from the other branches of government.

Clara Szczaranski, president of the State Defence Council, said that probity is a key value for the country and that her institution has taken part in the cases related to the scandal.

"Let us not confuse corrupt acts with widespread corruption," said Szczaranski in a bid to distinguish the situation of the lawmakers and former officials from what she says is the true, honest nature of the Chilean public system.

The sums Filippi reportedly paid in bribes total around 25,000 dollars, which is considered relatively insignificant in comparison to acts of corruption in other countries, particularly among Chile’s Latin American neighbours.

Journalist María Olivia Monckeberg denounced corruption in Chile last year with her book "El Saqueo" (Pillage), highlighting the money accumulated by former officials of the Pinochet dictatorship through the murky transactions involved in the process of privatising the country’s public entities.

In the context of the agreements made for the transition to democracy by the Concertación itself and the military regime, it was decided in 1989 that there would be no legislative or executive oversight of those operations.

POLITICS-CHILE: Ruling Leftist Coalition in Corruption Hot Seat

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo González

SANTIAGO, Nov 28 2002 (IPS) - The centre-left coalition that has governed Chile since 1990 is enduring its lowest moment as five of its lawmakers have been stripped of their legal immunity in a corruption scandal, leaving it with only a one-vote lead over the right-wing opposition in the lower house of Congress.
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