The crisis that the Supreme Court is experiencing and that the independence of our country’s justice system is on the bench experienced two twists with multiple effects on Monday, June 24. In the Public Ministry, it was decided to begin an investigation into the chat that CIPER revealed between Minister Ángela Vivanco’s partner, Gonzalo Migueles, and prosecutor Carlos Palma, which will be in charge of the Regional Prosecutor of Los Lagos, Carmen Gloria Wittwer. And in the Supreme Court, its president Ricardo Blanco activated the Ethics Commission, which will review the communications under accusation by ministers of the highest court. The decision was made in the absence of the main magistrates involved in the possible conflicts of interest; Ángela Vivanco and Jean Pierre Matus, in Paris, Carroza on secondment, and Letelier on administrative leave. Diego Simpertigue, one of the staunchest opponents of the internal investigation, is on vacation after finishing an official mission in Portugal.
“It is very unusual (…) the Court is a power of the State that usually administers its power symbolically, and it is convenient to keep it in mind (…) yesterday’s photograph, the appearance of President Blanco, the decision he adopts, and the appearance of the members who participated in the plenary session, is the synthesis of how seriously the Judiciary is taking this situation,” said the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, this Tuesday morning in T13 Radio.
Cordero referred to the photo that accompanied the announcement of the decision adopted by the president of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Blanco: to reactivate – ex officio – the Ethics Commission of the highest court to review the cases of possible influence peddling in which they are several of the magistrates that comprise it were involved. It was indeed an unusual photo. Blanco flanked by all the members of the highest court who were present in the plenary session. To the right of him was the minister and former president of the Supreme Court, Sergio Muñoz. According to articles published by Third and The Mercuryhas been one of the promoters of the idea of occupying the Ethics Commission.
Blanco was concise in his words, although he spoke with precision: “This president, using his powers, decided to convene the Ethics Commission to learn about the facts that affect members of this court, due to facts that are public knowledge.”
Since CIPER published a series of reports that revealed chats where Supreme Court ministers, appeals court judges, notaries and political leaders talk and ask each other for favors about judicial appointments, the supreme courts have discussed the issue in at least four plenary sessions. In none of them was there consensus on reactivating the ethics commission. But the tension inside the highest court grew day by day, as did the intrigues in the court corridors. To the point of questioning the very leadership and stability of President Ricardo Blanco. The concern extended to La Moneda.
Until on Monday, June 24, in the midst of the railway strike, the enormous damage caused by the intense rains and intense cold that covered the capital, a fundamental change occurred and the surprising photo that announced it. The president of the Supreme Court Ricardo ⁷Blanco made use of his legal prerogative and activated the Ethics Commission. Previously, a key change was made. Minister Mario Carroza, one of the magistrates involved in the questioned communications, appears in the chats taking steps to appoint notaries (see report “The chats of former judge Poblete reveal how Supreme Court ministers ask for votes to appoint notaries“), left the commission and was replaced by Minister Gloria Ana Chevesich, the tough judge who does not accept irregularities. The same one who should be the next president of the Supreme Court. Thus, the Ethics Commission, whose operation is reserved and has broad powers to reject antecedents, was chaired by Blanco and made up of Ministers Chevesich and Adelita Ravanales.
What changed compared to previous plenary sessions? The absences. The ministers were not involved in the questioned chats: Ángela Vivanco, Jean Pierre Matus, María Teresa Letelier, and Mario Carroza. During last Wednesday’s plenary session, these four ministers, according to Ex-Antethey voted against that idea.
According to the document that showed the integration of the plenary session yesterday Monday, Minister Vivanco is in France participating in a meeting of the International Association of High Administrative Jurisdictions, which is being held in Paris (Minister Vivanco is in France).
. In that same city is Minister Matus, who is on duty to attend the Congress and Assembly of the International Association of Criminal Law.
The same day that the Supreme Court announced the activation of the Ethics Commission that involves it, Ángela Vivanco met in Paris with the academic of the Institute of France Bernard Stirn, to talk about clear language and access to justice. It is important to highlight that the main objective of the centenary institution, the Institute of France, is to perfect knowledge “non profit” of five relevant French academies (of Inscriptions and Ancient Languages, of Fine Arts, of Sciences, of Moral and Political Sciences).
Later, also in Paris, Vivanco will participate in the preparatory meeting of the XV 2025 Congress of the International Association of Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions (IASAJ), which will be held in Santiago between April 2 and 4 of next year to delve into “Administration, the general interest and the judge”, with ministers of Supreme Courts and Courts of Cassation from more than 60 countries in the world.
This visit allows Minister Ángela Vivanco to experience firsthand the intense shock that that country is experiencing due to the announced victory of the extreme right in the early legislative elections that will take place this June 30 (second round on July 7).
REGIONAL PROSECUTOR OF LOS LAGOS WILL INVESTIGATE MIGUELES AND PALMA
Minister Vivanco has been at the center of controversy after CIPER revealed a chat where her partner, Gonzalo Migueles, talks with the regional prosecutor of Aysén, Carlos Palma, in the middle of the election of the National Prosecutor at the end of 2022. That chat According to what Palma told CIPER, it was understood by him as an improper offer, where Migueles told him that he was “OK” for a doctorate and to assume the leadership of the North Central Regional Prosecutor’s Office, which is currently occupied by prosecutor Xavier Armendariz. . As CIPER was able to confirm, the offer was in exchange for efforts that Palma had to make to favor the appointment of another candidate to the National Prosecutor’s Office (see here “Hermosilla chats reveal the efforts of Supreme Ángela Vivanco’s partner in the last nomination for national prosecutor“).
Last week the National Prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, asked Carlos Palma for a report in which he explained – this time, officially – the context of his conversation with Migueles. That report was delivered on Friday, June 21. Two days later, on Sunday the 23rd, Palma complemented the information with a second report. What is clear so far is that the conversation between Migueles and Palma took place on Thursday, November 24, three days after the government nominated prosecutor José Morales as its candidate for the top leadership of the Public Ministry. In any case, these efforts did not come to fruition, because Morales did not reach the necessary quorum in the Senate to become National Prosecutor. A quorum that Angel Valencia, who heads the Public Ministry, did reach.
Finally, the Public Ministry decided that what was appropriate was to open an investigation into the chat between Gonzalo Migueles and Carlos Palma. And he defined that this delicate investigation, which will have repercussions in the Supreme Court for one of those involved, will be in charge of the Regional Prosecutor of Los Lagos, Carmen Gloria Wittwer. And this is because prosecutor Palma is a regional prosecutor, so he must legally be investigated by a prosecutor of the same rank as him. Added to this criminal investigation will be the internal investigation carried out by the Ethics Commission of the Supreme Court, chaired by Ricardo Blanco.
Thus, the controversy caused by the existence of foreign interference in the justice system triggered multiple effects. After the publication of the CIPER report, two complaints were filed accusing influence peddling. One from the lawyer Sebastián Andrade, representing the mother of conscript Franco Vargas, who died on April 27 during his military service in Putre, and another from the lawyer Fernando Leal, representing other conscripts who participated in the same exercises. And this in view of the important definition made on Monday, June 24, by the Supreme Court on the case for the murder of conscript Franco Vargas and the serious effects on the health of other conscripts in the same exercise: if it is investigated by the Civil Justice or Military. The outcome of that decision has not yet been made public.
MINISTER MATUS IS ALSO IN PARIS
Another of the cases that the Ethics Commission of the Supreme Court must review is that of the supreme court Jean Pierre Matus, who arrived at the highest court in October 2021, nominated by the second government of President Sebastián Piñera, and ratified by 30 votes of the Senate.
Matus appears in the chats found on the cell phone of lawyer Luis Hermosilla. As revealed by a CIPER report (see here), Hermosilla took steps that facilitated Matus’ arrival to the Supreme Court. When consulted for this report, Minister Matus stated:
– When my name appeared in the list of candidates for the Supreme Court, some media published information and unfounded criticism against my application. Under such circumstances, I called people I knew and who could be asked for references about my career as a Professor of Criminal Law, lawyer, member of the Supreme Court (appointed by President Bachelet) and author of numerous works in my specialty, to inform them of the objective information that refuted these assertions, including Mr. Hermosilla. I did not ask him to take any action on my behalf, and I am unaware that he had taken any action. I only made him aware of the background, given his closeness to President Piñera, who had to propose one of the names of that team to the Senate, Matus indicated.
Minister Matus was one of those absent from yesterday’s plenary session, where the President of the Supreme Court, Ricardo Blanco, decided to convene the Ethics Commission. According to the integration document of that plenary session, Matus is in France participating in the Congress and Assembly of the International Association of Criminal Law.
In that same document (see here) the reasons that explain the absence of the other supreme officials involved in the chats are mentioned: Minister María Teresa Letelier was on administrative leave, and Mario Carroza was on secondment visiting the “departments of the Naval Court and Prosecutor’s Office of the Fourth Zone Naval (city of Iquique), as well as to the Sixth Military Court, Military Prosecutor’s Office of Iquique and the Aviation Prosecutor’s Office of that city.”
As for Minister Diego Simpetigue, another of the judges who has tenaciously opposed any investigation of judges involved in improper communications, he is on vacation. After traveling to Porto (Portugal) to the V International Congress of the International Association of Family Law Jurists (AIJUDEFA), he took advantage of vacation days.
The trips of these supreme leaders for different reasons to Europe – with the epicenter in Paris – these days have coincided with the drastic decisions that the Supreme Court and the Public Ministry have adopted to face the crisis. A journey that the Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, follows very closely. Everything indicates that this cavalcade has just begun.
