Businessman Avoids Prison After Destroying Wetland for Land Sales: Receives Suspended Sentence and Hefty Fine

Original article: Destruyó un humedal para vender parcelas y evitará la cárcel: empresario recibe libertad vigilada y multa millonaria

A businessman who destroyed a wetland in Valdivia Province, Los Ríos Region, to sell parcels, avoids prison after receiving a suspended sentence and a hefty fine,

It involves Cristian Esteban Zaro Ponce, who was convicted by the Valdivia Oral Criminal Court as the perpetrator of completed offenses of serious environmental pollution and unauthorized logging of native species.

According to the ruling, the crimes were committed in the Yeco area of San José de la Mariquina municipality, during October 2023 and February 2024.

In a unanimous decision, the court –composed of judges Pablo Álvarez and María Soledad Santana (rapporteur)– determined that «as the owner of a property, he ordered the cutting down of native tree species located on slopes greater than 45% (conservation and protection forest), and native species positioned less than 200 meters from a spring watercourse, violating the prohibition established in numerals 1 and 3 of Article 5 of Decree Law 4363 of the Forest Law), all in the upper part of the property.”

The verdict further states that Zaro Ponce “for the sale of parcels, ordered the removal of material (earth) from the upper part of the property, using machinery (excavators and/or backhoes), material that was dumped onto an existing marshland in the lower part of the property, by the Lingue River,” which is considered a priority site for biodiversity conservation by the Seremi of the Environment of Los Ríos.

By this action, the businessman caused the destruction of this ecosystem, affecting the existing flora and fauna due to habitat devastation, «through burial and removal, and contamination due to sedimentation of the waters that fed the wetland,» the court indicated.

According to the ruling, the serious environmental pollution charge was substantiated by the presence of the following elements: «(i) affecting a spatial extent of relevance based on the ecological or geographical characteristics of the area. (ii) prolonged effects over time due to such serious affects, (iii): severe, irreparable, and/or hard-to-repair effects on the elements or components of the environment, especially, the hydrophytic vegetation and existing fauna in the wetland, which resulted in a serious and irreversible impact on this ecosystem, and (iv) through significantly affecting the services or ecosystem functions of the environmental element or component, since the inherent functions of the wetland, such as water provision and soil protection, were severely compromised, leading to the total loss of the wetland.

Illegal Logging, Land Removal, and Dumping on a Wetland

The investigation of this case was led by the Unit for Crimes Against the Environment and Cultural Heritage of the Los Ríos Prosecutor’s Office, in coordination with the Environmental Crimes Investigation Brigade (Bridema) of the Chilean Investigative Police (PDI), alongside technical and regulatory bodies.

Throughout five days of oral trial, the Prosecutor’s Office presented testimonial, expert, and documentary evidence that established the criminal responsibility of the convicted and the severity of the damage caused to the wetland.

Environmental Prosecutor Carlos Bahamondes emphasized that in this investigation, the Public Ministry «has validated its work with reports issued by various institutions» involved in environmental matters, such as CONAF, the General Water Directorate, Sernageomin, and the PDI through the Unit for Environmental Crimes, as well as reports from the Superintendency for the Environment, among others.

«It is the institutional framework that gives rise to and also supports this investigation,» he stated.

The prosecutor indicated that the businessman is the owner of property El Lluca in the area known as El Yeco, adjacent to the Lingue River, located along the road between Mariquina and Mehuin, who “bought a property and decided to completely clear the existing forest on an adjacent hill, violating all regulations of the Forest Law, both administrative and other sections of the hill that constituted criminal offenses, namely illegal logging.

«In addition to that, which was the most severe in this case, he decided to create roads and flatten the hill, and all surplus material was dumped onto a wetland adjacent to this hill, completely burying it. As was demonstrated in court, destroying it illegally and irreversibly. Therefore, this constitutes the crime for which the Public Ministry has charged under the provisions of the Forest Law and crimes of assaults, damage, or environmental pollution,” he further explained.

Bahamondes highlighted that this marks the first oral trial conducted in Chile for the crime of serious environmental pollution under the new Law on Economic and Environmental Crimes.

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After Destroying Wetland, Businessman Receives Suspended Sentence and Large Fine

During the trial, the Prosecutor’s Office requested an eight-year prison sentence and a fine exceeding $1.7 billion. However, the Valdivia Oral Criminal Court sentenced businessman Cristian Zaro to 5 years in prison terms and a fine of 30,000 UTM, equivalent to over $2.1 billion pesos, for destroying the wetland in the Mariquina municipality.

The sentence, communicated on October 19, 2026, imposed 4 years for serious environmental pollution and 365 days for unauthorized logging or cutting of native trees or vegetation under the Forest Law. Both sentences were replaced by 5 years of intensive probation, under the supervision of Gendarmería de Chile and with the obligation to participate in environmental training programs. Additionally, a fine equivalent to 15 times the minimum wage was added for illegal logging.

According to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Los Ríos, this ruling reaffirms «the importance of specialized investigation and demonstrates that interventions destroying ecosystems can lead to criminal liability»