“I was the only one in this government who resigned for having refused to commit a crime,” says Ache about the Marset case

by time news November 5, 2023

November 5, 2023

2023-11-02 12:54:43

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carolina Ache Batlle.

This Wednesday, Carolina Achewho previously held the position of vice chancellor, appeared before the authorities of the Prosecutor’s Office to give his testimony in relation to the delivery of the passport to Sebastian Marsetan individual linked to drug trafficking in Uruguay.

This passport was delivered to Marset at the end of 2021 while he was detained in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, due to his entry into that country using false documents.

“I was the only politician in this government who resigned and went home, and paradoxically it was neither for having done something wrong nor for having done something illegal, quite the opposite. It was because I was not willing to hide communications from Justice and for having refused to commit a crime,” Ache said upon leaving the court.

And I add: “I had no participation, no interference in the processing of Sebastián Marset’s passport.. It was not within my powers and I never acted outside my powers. “I didn’t rush anything either for Dr. Alejandro Balbi or for Marset.”

“What I did do was notify the Directorate of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, which is in charge of the procedure, that it was someone dangerous, when Undersecretary Maciel informed me. That Directorate depends on Bustillo, and what I realized later is that everyone already knew who it was, long before me. “I have absolutely nothing to hide,” he concluded.

Were you asked to hide information?

Ache’s lawyer, former Attorney General Jorge Díaz, said that the former vice chancellor refused to hide information from Justice, which would have constituted the crime of obstruction of a judicial process.

“Who asked you to hide information?” they asked him, and Díaz responded: “That was declared today. Ache made a very extensive, detailed and documented statement in different media, regarding the events that occurred after the issuance of the passport. It’s in the statement she gave. And she provided documentation, audios and messages.”

“It is clear that she did not want to hide absolutely anything and that if today there are things that are known it is because of her stubbornness in adding the documentation that Justice was asking of her. And secondly, it is clear who those who tried to hide it were. “This is within the framework of the investigation and it will be the prosecutor who determines the procedure to follow,” the lawyer noted.

“For the Ministry of the Interior it seems that it was clear from the beginning that Mr. Marset was dangerous, however there was never an official communication from the Ministry of the Interior to the Foreign Ministry. There was no file, no official letter. The corresponding formal means were never used,” Díaz added.