The testimony of former DC Deputy before the Public Ministry reveals an alleged strategy by former minister Ángela Vivanco to influence the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court by disqualifying other ministers using complaints lodged by an NGO, with lawyer Eduardo Lagos as her operational arm.
Former Christian Democratic deputy Gabriel Silber Romo – partner of PPD senator Loreto Carvajal and a former colleague of the law firm at the center of the «Belarusian plot» – provided a revealing testimony to the Northern Prosecutor’s Office. In his nearly six-hour declaration on December 23, he detailed an alleged operation led by former Supreme Court minister Ángela Vivanco to seize control of the Third Chamber of that court, leveraging her connections with lawyer Eduardo Lagos.
Silber, who served as legal representative for the Belarusian consortium Belaz-Movitec (CBM) in their multimillion-dollar arbitration against Codelco, has not been formally charged and is viewed by prosecutors as a «cooperating witness.» His account, which the digital media outlet CIPER has accessed, not only provides insights into the case that led to the preventive detention of his associates Lagos and Mario Vargas but raises serious allegations of influence peddling, leak of rulings, and a scheme to disqualify other ministers from the highest court.
It’s important to note that the prosecutor’s investigations focus on a purported corruption scheme in which lawyers Mario Vargas and Eduardo Lagos, representatives of the Chilean-Belarusian Consortium Belaz-Movitec (CBM), allegedly made payments to the former minister through her partner, Gonzalo Migueles, who is currently in preventive detention at the Capitán Yáber annex, for alleged crimes of influence peddling, money laundering, bribery, and corruption.
The bribes were intended to secure a series of rulings and decisions from the Supreme Court between 2023 and 2024 against Codelco, in a litigation over a failed bid that forced the state copper company to pay more than $17 billion to the consortium.
The payments for these favors are suspected to exceed $90 million, according to current findings, with the funds allegedly laundered through operations involving Yáber, notary Yamil Najle, and the owner of a currency exchange, Harold Pizarro.
The strategy to take control of the Third Chamber:
The core of the revelation involves Ángela Vivanco’s alleged plan. According to Silber, the former minister «intended to take control of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court» and used Eduardo Lagos as «an operational arm.»
Silber described the strategy as one aimed at disqualifying other ministers from that chamber through complaints filed by an NGO called «I Want to Live Without Crime or Corruption.»
“These complaints were supported by information that Vivanco herself allegedly provided to Eduardo Lagos about her fellow chamber members,” Silber stated, adding that the lawyer then passed those details to Esteban Infante, a former Carabineros officer working at the aforementioned NGO, “who filed the complaints under his name.”
According to the ex-parliamentarian, “the complaints were organized in the law firm” he shared with Lagos and Vargas.
His testimony referred to two concrete cases. First, he indicated that a complaint was filed against Minister Leopoldo Llanos on August 5, 2024, for alleged breaches of integrity and ethics, based on claims that his children had accessed significant positions within the Judicial Power. An article from La Tercera confirmed that the complaint was submitted by the NGO “I Want to Live Without Crime or Corruption.”
Second, he noted that through the NGO, a complaint was lodged against Minister Sergio Muñoz, which was filed during the first week of August 2024, based on the same reasons that Muñoz was successfully recused in 2023 from hearing the case of Inmobiliaria Fundamenta, a client of the Lagos, Vargas, and Silber law firm. As reported by CIPER, that recusal was orchestrated by the same firm, which received more than $600 million from Fundamenta for advisory services that included disqualifying the minister.
The digital media outlet reported that they contacted former Carabineros officer Esteban Infante, who admitted to having a meeting with Lagos in his office where Silber appeared at the end of the meeting. He confirmed that Lagos did indeed contact him to file a complaint against then-Supreme Court president Ricardo Blanco, «but he had already done so.»
“From mid-year onward (2025), I personally filed the complaint with the Ethics Commission, and Mr. Lagos, when I met him, thinking it was a Carabineros case, told me he had more information regarding the complaint I had made (against Blanco),” he told CIPER.
He explained that the aim was to report Blanco to the Public Ministry for allegedly failing to disclose properties in his Interest and Asset Declaration. However, he denied that the complaints against Llanos and Muñoz originated from lawyer Lagos.
For his part, Silber stated that when he learned of the action against Muñoz, he expressed his «discontent and dissatisfaction» to Lagos, arguing that Fundamenta «had no interest in removing Muñoz from the Judicial Power, and the only one who could benefit would be Ángela Vivanco.”
The chats that confirm the operation: «We finished the take over»
The intent of Vivanco to take control of the chamber is not only a perception of Silber; it is also documented in her own messages. In previous reports, CIPER revealed chats between Vivanco and criminal lawyer Luis Hermosilla, who has been indicted on charges of tax evasion, bribery, and money laundering in the context of the Audio case.
In one message dated February 8, 2021, the then Supreme Court minister wrote:
-Vivanco: «I tell you that the [judge] Maria Teresa Letelier wants to run for Carlos Aranguiz’s shortlist; I think it’s a very good name and I believe it would have the support of Carroza and mine too, do you think?»
-Hermosilla: «Very much!!! Great name!!!!»
-Vivanco: «Excellent! I’ll move then, she would be willing to go to my chamber, and with that we finish the take over of the 3rd chamber. Brito hates her because she competed with Lya so we need to shield her (referring to Lya Cabello, partner of Haroldo Brito).»
Leaking the ruling in favor of the Belarusian consortium
Silber’s testimony also provides crucial details about the main case: the dispute between the Chilean-Belarusian Consortium Belaz Movitec (CBM) and Codelco.
The former deputy confirmed and expanded upon the version that Codelco’s chairman, Máximo Pacheco, had provided to the Prosecutor’s Office. He recounted that on July 3, 2023, while he was present, Ángela Vivanco called Eduardo Lagos via WhatsApp to inform him that her client’s resource had been seen and that the ruling would be favorable. At that time, this information was completely confidential.
“Immediately,” Silber stated, “Eduardo Lagos instructed [former deputy] Aldo Cornejo to contact Pacheco on behalf of CBM and inform him that the ruling would be unfavorable for the state-owned company.” This contact took place on the same July 3rd. However, the ruling was signed by Vivanco only on July 4 at 4:08 PM. Lagos was aware of the decision at least a day in advance.
Silber explained to the prosecutors that Lagos’s intention was to use that insider information to «negotiate the termination, withdrawal, or closure of the pending arbitration trial,” where $70 million was at stake. The contact with Pacheco constituted, in effect, “an explicit demonstration of the power and influence they held within the Supreme Court.” He added that “Lagos often boasted about that.”
Vivanco’s Concern Over Chats with Hermosilla
Another significant revelation relates to the messages between Vivanco and Hermosilla. Silber stated that during a dinner at Eduardo Lagos’s house, which Vivanco, Vargas, and he attended, “the minister showed particular concern about the potential dissemination of her chats with Luis Hermosilla.”
“After that meal,” he declared, “Eduardo Lagos instructed Mario Vargas to file a protection resource intended to prevent the chats contained on Hermosilla’s phone from becoming public.” According to Silber, “the real objective of that legal action was to prevent the conversations between Vivanco and Hermosilla from becoming known, which would constitute a signal of gratitude from the then-judge,” as reported by CIPER.
The Case of Codelco’s Contractor and the $80 Million
In his collaborative effort, Silber also recounted an episode that could constitute a separate crime. He asserted that a contractor from Codelco paid $80 million to the law firm for filing a resource that had an unfavorable outcome in the Supreme Court. The former deputy stated that the contractor told him over the phone that «Lagos had assured him of a favorable result.»
The former deputy declared that, along with Vargas, they advised Lagos that «the practice of charging based on the guarantee of results was reckless and demanded that he return the money.» However, that repayment has not occurred, as Lagos «claimed cash flow problems as a reason not to refund the amount.»
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