The Seventh Guarantee Court of Santiago accepted two complaints for the printing of copies of the proposed new Constitution, an action carried out by the Government on July 21. The Segpres minister, Giorgio Jackson, described this situation as “a sad show” and assured that they will collaborate to demonstrate that “there is no fact that has lacked legality.”
A new controversy involves Minister Giorgio Jackson, for the plebiscite campaign. Last week, the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) assured that the head of the Segpres “did not adjust to the necessary disregard” for his role in articulating possible reforms to the Constitution.
However, now the ex-parliamentary faces a judicial scenario, since the Seventh Guarantee Court of Santiago will review two complaints for the printing of copies of the constitutional proposal.
The first of them, presented by Deputy Juan Eduardo Irarrázaval (Republicans), was accepted last week by the court.
According to the entered action, The Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency – led by Jackson – ordered more than 700,000 copies of the document to be printed when the Convention had already been dissolved.
“Segpres can use and dispose of resources only for the installation and operation of the Convention. When the aforementioned printing was contracted, the Convention no longer existed, since on July 4, 2022 it had been declared dissolved. Therefore, it is not an expense for its operation”, it is indicated.
In this sense, it is explained that It was on July 21 when the portfolio made a direct contract with the company Sistemas Gráficos Quilicura SA, for an amount of $444,615,384.
Irarrázaval’s complaint does not question the way in which the purchase was generated -without a call for bids-, but rather that this action “It is not authorized by the Budget Law for the Public Sector corresponding to the year 2022.”
“It is not about the way in which the contracting was carried out, either by direct contracting or bidding (public or private), but in general the aforementioned Law No. 21,395 establishes a prohibition in this regard,” it is stated.
Although the document filed against “all those who are responsible”points directly to Minister Giorgio Jackson when describing the eventual illicit acts.
Second lawsuit for printing constitutional proposal
A second complaint, presented by the lawyer Marcelo Brunet (RN), was accepted this Tuesday by the Seventh Guarantee Court of Santiago.
In this case, one of the reasons does point to the mechanism of direct treatment to pay for the printing of the texts. “There was no cause of urgency and resources that were not available were spent, since they had to be reintegrated into the State for use of other needs”sostiene Brunet.
Secondly, the argument of the date on which this operation was carried out is shared, since the Constitutional Convention was already dissolved on July 11.
Finally, the lawyer in charge of the legal action indicates that “The Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency does not have dissemination work as its own function, which far exceeds its powers.”
It should be remembered that the ministry responded to this accusation, assuring that a call for bids could not be made before July 4, since the final product was not available.
Minister Jackson calls lawsuits a “sad show”
After the complaint of the Republican deputy was accepted, Minister Jackson affirmed that “It seems to us a sad show in political terms and constitutes an instrumentalization, both of the courts of justice and of the Public Ministry, with evident electoral purposes.”
“I want to emphasize the irresponsibility that this means at a time when both the courts and the Prosecutor’s Office are overwhelmed doing a lot of work to be able to prosecute the crime,” he added.
Also, he stated that “there is no fact that has lacked legality” and that they will provide all the collaboration in the respective investigation of the Public Ministry.
“I think that in this case, in addition to ignorance, there may be bad faith when reading what it means not only the Budget Law, but also the fact that we have to execute an expense that the Constitutional Convention mandated”said the Secretary of State.
Finally, he stated that “There may be some deputies who are bothered that people can read the text, but the Government has a duty to continue disseminating it.”