Former Judge Ulloa Allegedly Voted for Yáber as Registrar While Receiving Monthly Payments of $1 Million

Original article: Reportan que exjuez Ulloa votó por Yáber para conservador mientras éste le depositaba $1 millón mensual

The March 2022 voting by the Court of Appeals in Santiago for the crucial position of Registrar of Mortgages and Liens in the capital has taken on a new and serious dimension amid current corruption investigations involving the judiciary, following revelations that former court minister Antonio Ulloa voted in favor of Sergio Yáber while continuously receiving monthly deposits of one million pesos from him.

The process aimed to replace the late Juan Edmundo Rojas García and took place on March 7, 2022, at 1:30 PM during a full court session. At that time, Yáber, who was serving as the registrar in Puente Alto and aspired to the better-paid position in Santiago, did not make it to the final shortlist submitted to the President of the Republic – a list ultimately headed by Carlos Miranda – but he did receive significant, now suspicious support.

Yáber Paid $74 Million in Monthly Transfers to Ulloa

According to the minutes of the session, Sergio Yáber received eight votes in the first round of voting. The ministers who supported his candidacy included Antonio Ulloa, Verónica Sabaj, Mario Rojas González, Fernando Carreño, Lilian Leyton, Elsa Barrientos, Tomás Gray, and Érika Villegas (the latter replacing María Loreto Gutiérrez). This backing allowed him to proceed to a second round of voting, though ultimately without success.

Two of those votes, from former ministers Ulloa and Sabaj, are currently under public scrutiny. However, it is Ulloa’s case that presents documented financial connections. It should be noted that according to an investigation by the digital outlet Reportea, at the time of that vote, Yáber had been transferring one million pesos monthly to Antonio Ulloa for over two years.

Bank statements reveal monthly transfers totaling $74.8 million, a matter that was not taken into account in the recent Supreme Court summary or in the impeachment case that removed Ulloa from his position.

The payments began in February 2019, just three months after Yáber assumed his role, and continued uninterrupted until 2025. This financial relationship took place alongside a close friendship between the suspended registrar and the former magistrate, which included overseas trips and Yáber’s efforts to avoid Ulloa’s departure from the judiciary, according to intercepted phone calls.

When questioned by Reportea about the nature and purpose of these payments, Antonio Ulloa declined to provide details, deferring any future statements to the prosecutor’s office. “I have no comments to make regarding this matter. Any information in this regard I will provide, if determined, before the prosecutor. I have been linked through the press to high-profile criminal cases. In none of them am I involved or have any connection. I have already been investigated and sanctioned. I have subjected myself and will continue to submit myself to the institutional framework, and I trust that the facts will be recognized as they occurred,” he stated.

Sergio Yáber was unavailable for questions or comments.

The 2022 vote was not an isolated event. Sources close to the process explained to BioBioChile that there was, alongside this, a political push led by Senator Matías Walker – who is also under investigation for his relationship with Yáber – to modify the structure of the Santiago Registrar’s office and split it into at least four areas, an initiative that was ultimately discarded.

Connections to the ‘Belarusian Network’

The timeline is critical to the concern. The transfers, totaling over 74 million pesos, were active precisely when Ulloa, in his role as a Court of Appeals minister, was evaluating and voting on candidates for the position. Ulloa had the power to directly influence Yáber’s career, who had been depositing money into his account for over two years.

This situation raises questions about the objectivity and impartiality of the 2022 voting process. Moreover, it is framed within the context of the so-called ‘Belarusian Network,’ an investigation led by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Los Lagos concerning alleged bribes to former Supreme Court minister Ángela Vivanco for rulings that benefited the consortium Belaz Movitec in a legal dispute with Codelco, which forced the state copper company to pay $17 billion.

In this case, Yáber has been identified as a key operator in alleged payments to lawmakers and efforts to influence the Supreme Court, specifically in cases related to Antonio Ulloa.

After lifting Yáber’s banking secrecy, payments to Ulloa and Gonzalo Migueles, Vivanco’s partner, as well as to other political figures, including Senator Matías Walker and Republican Deputy Cristián Araya for $1.7 million, were discovered, prompting the opening of new investigations.

While Sergio Yáber remains suspended from his position by order of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, which opened a summary investigation into these events, former minister Ulloa is under formal investigation for trafficking in influence by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Valparaíso. This case included raids last March at his office in the Court of Santiago and in the Constitutional Court, where the phone of Minister Héctor Mery, who was in charge of the Judicial Division of the Ministry of Justice, was seized.