The leaking by hackers of more than 400,000 secret email messages of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMCO) and a new case of alleged corruption have unleashed a new crisis in Chile and caused resignations and prosecutions in the Army, an institution whose prestige is still deteriorating.
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As reported this Friday, the Chilean Justice ordered the prosecution of five generals in retirement for their alleged responsibility in alleged repeated crimes of embezzlement of public funds equivalent to 455 million pesos (about 500,000 dollars).
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The visiting minister of the Martial Court, Romy Rutherford, in charge of the “Fraud in the Army” case and its many aspects, investigates crimes that were allegedly committed between December 2007 and March 2018, prosecuting dozens of officers in that framework and former officers of the Chilean military branch.
In particular, Rutherford brought Guillermo Hernán Porcile Arellano, Alberto Eduardo González Martin, John Eduard Griffith Spielman, Sergio Patricio Ahumada Labbé and José Manuel Llanca Zuazagotía to trial.
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The stagecoach stands as the last scene, to date, of a long parade of active and retired soldiers through the Chilean courtsin acts of corruption where the main protagonists have been members of the High Command.
Purchase of properties, luxury cars, trips, parties and tourism with fiscal resources are part of a fiscal shelf with 1,392 volumes and 46 notebooks filled with multiple edgess, and an alleged embezzlement of the national treasury that so far exceeds 8.5 million euros.
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It is not the first time that investigations have been carried out in a democracy for crimes related to illicit enrichment in the leadership of the Chilean Army, a practice that according to historians was deeply rooted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
Since democracy returned, all the Commanders-in-Chief of the Chilean Army have been linked to millionaire frauds, with Humberto Oviedo, Juan Miguel Fuentalba and Óscar Izurieta also prosecuted for corruption crimes.
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security breach
The new judicial accusation coincides in time with the scandal unleashed by the massive leak of EMCO emails carried out by the group of hackers Guacamaya, which has exposed more than 400,000 messages and numerous documents classified as “reserved”, “secret2” and “top secret”.
The leak forced the Minister of Defense, Maya Fernández, to return to Chile urgently from New York, where she was accompanying the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, at the UN General Assembly and forced the departure of the head of the EMCO on Thursday. General Guillermo Paiva.
“Faced with the known facts in relation to the security failure of the emails of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President of the Republic has instructed the Minister of National Defense to return to the country to lead the response to these events,” they communicated from the Chilean government.
Along with handing over the records to the military justice to promote a criminal investigation, the Executive ordered an administrative summary to determine the corresponding responsibilities.
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Congress, meanwhile, has already taken action and its National Defense Commission summoned the Secretary of State along with the undersecretary and the head of EMCO, in order to account for the scope of the leak. According to local investigations, the leaked files include data on cybersecurity, communications and border monitoring, as well as sensitive information on intelligence and satellite monitoring systems.
On September 19, and during the protocol parade of the Armed Forces on the occasion of the national holidays, groups of attendees – some relatives of members of the Government – booed and insulted President Boric – in an act without precedent in modern times and which unleashed criticism from the government and part of the political class.
EFE
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