Supreme Court Upholds Sentences for Retired Military Officers in «Tecnodata» Fraud Case

Original article: Fraude en el Ejército: Suprema ratificó condenas de militares (r) en la arista «Tecnodata»

The Supreme Court has rejected the appeals against the conviction of retired Army members involved in the ongoing offense of falsification in military administration, committed in 2013 as part of the «Tecnodata» facet of the broader «Army Fraud» case.

In a unanimous decision (case role 104.331-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court confirmed the ruling made by the Military Court, which sentenced Jozo Aurelio Santic Palomino to 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment; and Clovis Alejandro Ignacio Montero Barra, Claudia Priscila Morales Pinilla, and Yanira Margarita Valdebenito Arce to 3 years and one day of confinement. Notably, these sentences were later commuted to intensive supervised release for the same duration, as they were found guilty of the aforementioned crime.

Case Details

In the initial ruling, Judge Romy Rutherford of the Military Court established the following facts:

“1.- Officials from the Chilean Army, specifically the Treasury of the General Staff, requested and obtained false invoices from provider Importaciones y Exportaciones TECNODATA S.A. in 2013 to improperly access public funds, under the following circumstances:

a.- The invoices were filled with descriptions that aligned with fictitious sales of computer supplies, particularly ink cartridges, toners, and cartridges intended for the Treasury of the Army’s General Staff, corresponding to amounts or quantities agreed upon between the supplier and the officials responsible for preparing the support documentation and expediting payment.

b.- Once the Army’s Treasury agreed on amounts with the supplier, the non-commissioned officer responsible for acquisitions and receipt of goods, knowing these were not genuine purchases, processed the respective purchase orders on the Public Market platform as directed by the treasury officer; following which, the senior officer in charge of the Finance Section, also aware of the fraudulent nature of these invoices, would authorize and sign them.

c.- Subsequently, these Army officials signed the receiving reports on the back of the invoices, certifying the receipt, and placing their approval and involvement on purported computer supplies that were never received, creating a facade of legitimacy.

2) Under these conditions, the fraudulent invoices, along with their false supporting documentation, were entered into the Finance Department II for processing and subsequent payment to TECNODATA S.A.

3) After the Treasury transferred funds to the supplier’s account in payment of the false invoices, the representative acting for the Army proceeded to: (i) in some cases, withdraw the money, retaining a portion for themselves (specifically the VAT and 15% of the invoice value), while providing the remainder in cash to the Army official who had requested the invoices; and (ii) in other instances, deliver goods different from those listed in the invoices, such as televisions, laptops, monitors, DVD players, computers, tablets, USB drives, audio systems, home theaters, watches, cell phones, Blu-ray players, printers, iPads, faxes, and Handycam cameras, which were then misappropriated for personal benefit and that of others, to the detriment of the Army.

4) This entire scheme was known to the director of the Army Finance department at the time, who, when there were insufficient resources to pay the mentioned false invoices, would authorize and arrange for extraordinary remittances at the request of the treasury officer, thereafter taking advantage of the illicitly obtained funds—whether through cash received from the sub-treasurer, through goods or services paid for with these funds, or permitting the disposition of those—money, goods, and services—by others.

5) Through this method of operation, a total amount of $34,001,256 (thirty-four million one thousand two hundred fifty-six pesos) was paid for nonexistent computer supplies for the institution, thus void of any reality and legitimate backing.

Read the full ruling HERE