José Antonio Pavez Canessa, syndicated as leader of the greatest tax fraud in the history of Chile, was again transferred to the Captain Yáber prison after denouncing serious threats and a physical attack suffered in the James Santiago 1.
The decision was taken by Judge Karen Muñoz, after the request for her defense, which warned a high risk for the integrity of the accused.
The 41 -year -old Pavez case exploded in December 2023 when the Prosecutor’s Office uncovered a scheme of false invoices that left the treasury for 336 billion pesos, allegedly articulated by six family clans.
According to the Public Ministry, Pavez headed the so -called Clansessa Clan, responsible for issuing more than 100,000 false invoices through 16 ghost companies, cheating about 3,300 taxpayers, including renowned companies.
A transfer marked by threats and violence
Pavez reported in a ten -warter letter of ten pages that last July was attacked in his cell in the 12 module of Santiago 1 by an alleged hitman, with complicity of Gendarmes. “They want to kill me,” he warned in the letter addressed to the court, where he accuses businessman Christian Barriga, leader of the Barriga-Polanco clan and charged in the same case, to order his murder.
The situation led Judge Fernando Guzmán in the first instance to dispose of his transfer to Captain Yáber in July 2024. However, he denounced, he was illegally returned to Santiago 1, where he suffered new threats and aggressions.
Prosecutor’s Office opens investigation by prison attack
The North Central Prosecutor’s Office, led by prosecutor Alika Sukni, opened a criminal investigation after Pavez’s complaints, which is now based in the West Prosecutor’s Office.
The accused, who faces charges for fraud that exceeds $ 74 billion only for his family nucleus, claims to have cooperated widely with the authorities: he has declared on 82 occasions and delivered 11 secret statements that allowed to open seven additional causes.
“Christian Barriga paid to enter a hitman to kill me,” said Pavez, also questioning the chief prosecutor of Pudahuel, Eduardo Baeza, for not having acted in the face of the warnings of the accused. According to his defense, the threats began behind their visits to the Prosecutor’s Office to collaborate with the investigation.
Inhuman conditions and security failures
In the appeal filed against Gendarmerie, Pavez denounced that he was kept in cells without mattress, light or water, infested with insects and in total abandonment, despite there is a judicial order of shelter. “They want to silence me,” he said, warning that his life is still in danger.
Judge Guzmán reaffirmed at the hearing that there is a history of attacks against him and even payments to officials to facilitate illegal income from people to his cell during the night.
