Original article: Simpertigue entra al radar de la Fiscalía: oficios a Aduanas, PDI y Cancillería por sus viajes en la trama bielorrusa

Supreme Court Minister Diego Simpertigue Under Investigation: Requests Made to Customs, Police, and Foreign Affairs Over Travel Links to Belarusian Scheme

Supreme Court Minister Diego Simpertigue is currently under the scrutiny of the Prosecutor’s Office, which has initiated a formal inquiry to trace his travels and connections within the so-called «Belarusian scheme» involving potential corruption that may have led to significant financial losses for the state-owned company Codelco.

According to documents obtained by the digital news outlet Reportea, the prosecution team from the Los Lagos Region dispatched a series of requests on November 20 to key state institutions to gather information on Simpertigue, his partner, and other individuals involved in the case.

The requests were sent to the National Customs Directorate, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Civil Registry and Identification Service. The goal of the Prosecutor’s Office is to construct a detailed timeline regarding the foreign travels of those investigated, verify the use of privileges reserved for authorities, and clarify their family connections.

Exhaustive Tracking of Simpertigue and Other Involved in the «Belarusian Scheme»

The investigation aims to identify patterns in the behavior of the minister, who is already facing an administrative summary in the judiciary and a constitutional accusation in Congress due to his ties with lawyers from the Chilean-Belarusian consortium Belaz Movitec (CBM), which litigated against Codelco.

The first request, directed to the head of Customs, seeks information about the “declarations of assets and values, as well as exits and entries to the country” of a group of eight individuals: Diego Simpertigue himself; his partner, notary Gilda Miranda from Lampa; former Supreme Court Minister Ángela Vivanco; her partner, Gonzalo Migueles; and CBM lawyers Mario Vargas and Eduardo Lagos. The list also includes former DC deputy Gabriel Silber and his partner, Senator Loreto Carvajal (PPD).

According to the cited media outlet, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that Customs indicate whether this group of individuals underwent customs checks when entering the country since 2023, particularly if they utilized the airport’s protocol lounge designated for state authorities.

Simultaneously, in a request sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Police, the Public Ministry went further in tracking Simpertigue’s movements, requiring “information on all travels abroad undertaken by the minister and his partner, including details such as flight numbers and any existing records of their movements across various countries.”

The Foreign Affairs Ministry, in turn, received inquiries regarding the use of state privileges. Prosecutors asked “whether Ángela Vivanco, Gonzalo Migueles, Diego Simpertigue, and Gilda Miranda have obtained diplomatic passports from 2020 to the present, as well as any information on the use of such special passports abroad.” The request also inquires if this group has utilized the airport’s protocol lounge and whether, when they did, they were checked by Customs or the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG).

Finally, in a fourth request sent to the Civil Registry, the Prosecutor’s Office ordered “the preparation of a family network” of all individuals under investigation: Vivanco, Migueles, Simpertigue, Miranda, Silber, Carvajal, Vargas, and Lagos. Regarding the involved judges and their partners, prosecutors specifically requested “information on whether they have obtained diplomatic passports in recent years.” For Vivanco and Migueles, it was requested “that it be indicated whether those documents were returned, considering that Vivanco was expelled from the judiciary last October.”

Situation Complicates for Simpertigue

The prosecutor’s offensive occurs amid an unprecedented crisis for Simpertigue. The revelation that, following the conflict between CBM and Codelco, and after the last payment from the state-owned company to CBM, the minister embarked on a cruise in Europe with CBM lawyer Eduardo Lagos—who he also traveled with in 2023 along with another CBM attorney, Mario Vargas—raised alarms over potential breaches of integrity.

The situation worsened with information provided by former deputy Gabriel Silber, who informed the Prosecutor’s Office that Simpertigue’s stepson occupied an apartment owned by Eduardo Lagos in Las Condes in early 2024, precisely while the Supreme Court was processing the case between CBM and Codelco. Simpertigue voted in favor of the Belarusian consortium on two occasions, resulting in state copper company being forced to pay more than $17 billion.

While the minister tries to weather the storm away from his duties, state institutions will be required to respond to the requests issued by the prosecutors. Each piece of data collected could be a crucial element for the Public Ministry to determine if there are crimes behind the travels and relationships that have jeopardized the credibility of the Chilean judiciary.