The 7th Guarantee Court of Santiago set the oral trial preparation hearing for the Luminarias LED case for November 8, at 9:00 a.m., after providing the accusation that the Regional Prosecutor of Ñuble, Nayalet Mansilla Donoso, presented before said court against nine companies of the Itelecom group and 19 defendants, including two former mayors.
The investigation confirmed that the company’s executive staff offered bribes, directly or through intermediaries, to public officials, to favor the awarding of tenders for lighting replacement projects in several communities in the country to said company.
In addition to the crimes of bribery and bribery, Prosecutor Nayalet Mansilla charged the defendants with violation of secrets, money laundering, illicit association, tax crimes and criminal liability of the legal entity.
On May 18, 2022, the Prosecutor’s Office had already filed an accusation, after two years of investigation, however, the defense of some of the accused requested that same month the reopening and carrying out of investigative proceedings. Once these were executed, the Prosecutor’s Office decided to close the investigation on September 26.
In the indictment, the Prosecutor’s Office requests effective prison sentences totaling 28 years for León Marcelo Lefort Hernández, main shareholder and general manager of the Itelecom group companies, for the crimes of bribery, money laundering, tax crimes and illicit association.
For the other managers of the company, Pedro Guerra Guerrero, Leonardo Bustos Abarzúa and Ricardo Rodriguez Bizama the prosecution is asking for effective prison sentences totaling 11 years each, for the crimes of bribery, asset laundering and illicit association.
In the case of the former official of the Ministry of Energy, Paul Pacheco Quintanilla, the requested sentences total 9 years in prison for repeated bribery, money laundering and for tax crimes.
For the former mayor of Negrete, Francisco Melo Márquez, accused of the crime of bribery, 818 days in prison are requested, and for the former mayor of Coyhaique, Rigoberto Alejandro Huala Canumán, sentences totaling 4 years in prison for repeated bribery.
Likewise, in the case of the legal advisor of the Municipality of Chillán, Marcelo Campos Henríquez, 10 years in prison are requested for the crime of bribery, the same sentence requested for the former councilor of the same commune Víctor Sepúlveda Barra. In the case of the former administrator of that municipality, Ricardo Vallejos Palacios, 8 years in prison are requested, and with respect to businessman Víctor Amado Herrera, 7 years in prison are requested for bribing those public officials.
Other public officials who committed bribery are Julio Villaroel Rojas, Planning Secretary of the Municipality of Coyhaique, who risks a sentence of 4 years in prison, and his counterpart from the Municipality of Negrete, David Encina Fonseca, for whom two sentences are requested. of 540 days in jail.
For their part, private individuals Rogers Mariangel Oviedo, Alex Fuenzalida Villalobos, Cristian Ureta Bravo and George Latrille Hucke were also accused of the crime of bribery. The latter was also accused of illicit association and tax crimes. They are joined by Javiera Correa Neira, for money laundering, and José Hidalgo Abarzúa for tax crimes.
Finally, regarding the companies of the Itelecom group, the accusation requests their dissolution, fines of 150 thousand UTM and the confiscation of the funds that are subject to the royal precautionary measures of retention and seizure, among other penalties.
