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Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) is a Chilean chemical and mining company that mines lithium and makes fertilizer and other chemicals. The company is currently under indictment and investigation for diverting funds to different politicians in Chile. The SQM Case is closely related to the Penta Case, since defendants from both cases overlap and it is the same type of crime. So it's also called the Penta-SQM Case. So far, 6 defendants have been charged.[1]
This case[2] includes tax fraud and violations of political campaign laws. Different persons, either politicians or their advisers or even family members, created fake invoices which SQM then paid. It is alleged that those who created these fake invoices then passed those funds onto political parties in violation of campaign finance laws. So they were acting on behalf of the politicians, without the politicians being involved directly. As to whether those funds bought any favors from the politicians for SQM, so far that has only been demonstrated in the case of Pablo Wagner, who was a former mining minister. New charges (August 2015) brought against certain defendants now include steering contracts.
The principal stock holder of SQM is Julio Ponce Lerou, formerly son-in-law of the late dictator Pinochet. He is not charged with any wrong doing.
Charges brought against employees and owners of SQM
Name
Position
Status
Eugenio Ponce
VP SQM
accused of signing fake invoices
Patricio Contesse González
former general manager SQM
charged with tax crimes
Carlos Alberto Délano
owner
house arrest at night
Carlos Eugenio Lavín
owner
house arrest at night
Roberto Guzmán
advisor to Julio Ponce
charged
This case is different from the Penta Case in that false invoices the tax authorities (SII) were then used to funnel money to politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. In the Penta Case, funds were diverted to right wing politicians of the RN and UDI parties. In the SQM case, the members of the governing coalition, the Nueva Mayoria, received funds as well.
This case is still under investigation. The politicians under investigation are listed below. In many cases payments were made to their assistants[3] and not directly to the politicians.
Governing Coalition (Nueva Mayoria)
Name
Party
Status
Alejandro Bahamondes
former VP of PPD party and partner of Kybalion Consultores Limitida who issued $22 million CPL in invoices to SQM
resigned as Chilean ambassador to Paraguay[4]
David Flores
campaign advisor to Carolina Tohá (OOD), mayor of Santiago
charged
Others
Name
Role
Status
Alberto Ayala
prosecutor
under investigation[5] for leaking details of SQM case to Rodrigo Peñailillo
Rodrigo Peñailillo
Minister of Interior in Bachelet government
resigned as Minister of the Interior in Bachelet government because of connections to SQM case in which he had to defend payments made by the firm to him before he entered the government
Giorgio Martelli
partner, Asesorías y Negocios SpA, fundraiser for President Bachelet's first campaign for president
charged with tax crimes and evasion of taxes between 2009 and 2013 which overlaps at his time as political operative in the Bachelet campaign
Carolina de la Cerda
sister-in-aw of former mining sub secretary Pablo Wagner
under investigation
Alliance (Conservative)
Name
Party
Status
Jovino Novoa
founding member and former of UDI
Charges with presenting false tax declaration and false invoices to the tax authorities (SII) in the amount of 80 million CLP. Under house arrest[6]
Claudio Eguiluz
ex vice president RN
is charged in criminal court by prosecutors of the Public Ministry [7] with tax fraud for 465,000 Chilean Pesos. Charges were dismissed when tax authorities (SII) did not present their own charges. The prosecution needs for the separate tax agency to file charges as well.
José Tomás Longueira Brinkmann
son of former senator and presidential candidate Pablo Longueira (UDI)
José Longueira issued invoices[8] to SQM in 2010 for $4.450.333 CLP
Pablo Wagner
mining sub secretary under President Piñera
house arrest at night
Jaime Orpis Bouchon
Senator (UDI)
also implicated in Corpesca corruption case
Santiago Valdés
Former manager of Bancard and official in presidential campaign of President Piñera
charged with tax crimes [9]
Alejandro Sule
former congressman (PR)
charge with tax crimes
^"Fundraiser for Bachelet Campaign Charged with Tax Crimes". Southern Pacific Review. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
^"EL CASO SOQUIMICH (SQM) EXPLICADO CON MANZANITAS". Economia para Todos. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
^Matus, Javiera. "Penta-SQM: fiscalía pide al Congreso registro de pagos a asesores de siete políticos". Retrieved 9 August 2015.
^E, J. "Embajador de Chile en Paraguay renuncia y dice que su decisión se relaciona con case SQM". El Mercurio. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^FERNÁNDEZ, BASTIÁN; SEPÚLVEDA, NICOLÁS (10 August 2015). "Las tesis internas en la Fiscalía para explicar el misil de Chahuán contra Ayala". El Mostrador. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^Caraval, Cynthia. "Defense de Novoa acusa a SII de trato desigual por no existir querella contra la firma Martelli". El Mercurio. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
^Caraval, C.; et al. "SQM: Jueza acogío tesis de no formalizar Eguiluz por no existar acción legal de SII". El Mercurio. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
^Vega, María José. "Hijo de Longueira figura entre los que emitieron boletas a SQM". Retrieved 10 August 2015.
^Chaparro, Andrea; Carvajal, Cinthya. "Penta-SQM: masiva formalización include a ex gerente de Bancard y ex diputado radical". El Mercurio. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
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