Among the WhatsApp conversations of former judge Juan Poblete with the current Minister of the Supreme Court María Teresa Letelier, revealed in a recent report by Ciper Chile, there was a conversation that was left unfinished, or, in good Chilean, that left the ball hanging. .
Although the Ciper Chile article focused on the WhatsApp conversations held by the former Minister of the Court of Appeals Juan Antonio Poblete – today retired and formalized for his responsibility in the case of telephone espionage carried out by officials of the Army Intelligence Directorate to the journalist Mauricio Weibel – with the former Minister of Defense and current candidate for mayor of Santiago Mario Desbordes, to favor the candidacy to the Supreme Court of Judge María Teresa Letelier, there was a segment in such conversations, which goes almost unnoticed, where it is alluded to to “Cisterna, father and son.”
In said WSP conversation, Poblete informs the then minister of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, María Teresa Letelier, about the successful results he obtained – in his favor – with the former Minister of Defense Mario Desbordes (RN), so that the Sebastián Piñera’s government would nominate her to the Supreme Court in the event that her name was included in the list that the Supreme Court was then preparing, with the candidates to succeed the deceased Minister Carlos Aránguiz.
In this context, the formalized former magistrate Juan Antonio Poblete asks Letelier about his closeness with “Cisterna, father and son”, in direct allusion to the former minister of the Supreme Court Lamberto Cisternas and his lawyer son, Gonzalo Cisternas Sobarzo.
Poblete: Conversation from 10 minutes ago. We could see a way to get together with him. How is your closeness with Cisterna, father and son?
Letelier (prudently) answers: Look, it would be great, but after the quina, before that I will personally stay away from politicians. If I go to the corner there I will have to make contacts and he is very important. Thank you for your concern.
Although Minister Letelier in this dialogue does not respond to Poblete about the Cisternas, this conversation reveals former Judge Poblete’s intention to influence the Supreme Court for the preparation of the quina that would be sent to former President Piñera.
The Cisternas lobby
Within the framework of these chats, which came to light after the seizure of Juan Poblete’s phone and several chips in the framework of the espionage investigation, Ciper Chile also revealed another conversation between the former judge and the then Minister of the Court Supreme, Lamberto Cisternas. At the time of that dialogue, the former minister was preparing to leave the highest court due to age.
Thus, on March 6, Lamberto Cisternas wrote to Poblete:
Cisterns: I bother him because of a vote in favor of a friend who is running for Barnechea notary; and if you can get me some additional votes. These are the data. 9 place, 5 years as a Notary in San Miguel. Patricia Valentina Manríquez Huerta. Apply to Barnechea Notary. Currently Notary in San Miguel. More advance Grs.
Poblete: Excuse me. Mrs. Gonzalez? No
Cisterns: Forks!
Juan Poblete, Ciper notes, refers to Eugenio González, alias “the penguin,” who became famous as an operator in the Judicial Branch.
Poblete: Ok, I think I can add another 2, at least. Can you see this Monday?
Cisterns: I do not know exactly…
Poblete: Well. In any case . Count a contribution of about three, for my part.
Cisterns: Ms Grs!
When consulted by said media, Lamberto Cisternas pointed out that “it does not seem appropriate to me to be talking about conversations in a private chat. But I answer him immediately. It happens that I know that lady and I have very good references about her personal and professional performance as her lawyer, so while talking to this colleague I raised the issue, I don’t remember exactly in what terms.
In these responses, Cisternas relies on his poor memory to affirm that he does not remember if he asked for votes for other candidates for notaries:
“That I remember, no. But, chances are he did the same thing with someone else. It is not in the sense of asking for votes per se, but by talking to someone about candidates one gives the opinion: “Look, I have known this person for so long or I don’t know this other person.”
The Hermosilla case
When the Hermosilla case exploded, one of the derivatives of this investigation was related to the content of Luis Hermosilla’s phone, where various conversations of the once powerful lawyer were recorded to influence the appointment of high positions within the Judiciary. In one of these conversations, Hermosilla’s support for Jean Pierre Matus to reach the Supreme Court was explicit.
Although not all the records of those who unofficially supported said candidacy are known, in judicial circles it was public knowledge that one of its promoters was Lamberto Cisternas, this due to the closeness of Matus with his son, Gonzalo Cisternas Sobarzo. JP Matus worked with Gonzalo Cisternas, as a consultant, in his law firm (Cisternas & Compañía Abogados, Asesorías y Consultorías), headed by Cisternas Sobarzo.
With this noise in the environment, former Minister Lamberto Cisternas was asked if he had made efforts in favor of candidates for the Supreme Court, which he denied. However, he added the following: “There may undoubtedly be a possibility that people want to talk to people they know to make themselves known. The system calls that. The issue is at the limit of how one does it, who one does it with, and the reception of the person to whom one speaks.”
Political silver
Another episode in which the Cisternas, father and son, were mentioned, occurred during the case of illegal financing of electoral campaigns, known as Platas Políticas. During 2017, the political and judicial world was surprised when on March 28 of that year the ruling was announced that confirmed the dismissal of the then senator Patricio Walker (DC) in the investigation into illegal political financing provided by companies of the Federation of Southern Fishing Industries (Fipes).
In that ruling, divided 3 x 2, three ministers of the Supreme Court ratified the resolution of the Coyhaique Court of Appeals that dismissed the parliamentarian. One of the three votes was from Minister Lamberto Cisternas, whose son – the lawyer Gonzalo Cisternas Sobarzo – had appeared directly involved in receiving – through his law firm – some payments made by the Angelini Group and which were the subject of investigation.
According to the information that was made public, the law firm of the son of the then acting minister of the Supreme Court – Cisternas & Compañía Abogados, Asesorías y Consultorias -, of which Alberto Espina was also a partner at that time, received $18.7 million of Inversiones Siemel, a subsidiary of Celulosa Arauco, controlled by the Angelini Group. That payment was in the crosshairs of the Prosecutor’s Office, under the hypothesis that said amounts – plus others that were known during the investigation – were to irregularly finance Renovación Nacional. The suspicion was not only because Espina was part of said society at the time, but also because Gonzalo Cisternas Sobarzo himself was also a leader of Renovación Nacional. In fact, years later he served as vice president of the party’s Supreme Court.
Today, Alberto Espina – current advisor of the CDE, appointed by his friend the former president Sebastián Piñera – does not appear in said study, but the one who does appear as a lawyer advisor is Mario Desbordes (RN, current candidate for mayor for the commune of Santiago), with who the formalized former Minister Poblete made the aforementioned lobbying efforts.
