He Public Prosecutor’s Office accepted a complaint filed by an NGO to investigate the judge of the 12th Guarantee Court of Santiago, Graciel Muñoz Tapia, daughter of Supreme Court Minister Sergio Muñoz, whom He is accused of having committed the crime of falsifying a public instrument.
According to what was reported by The Thirdthe complaint was filed by the NGO I Want to Live without Crime and Corruption and is related to carrying out teleworking from abroad without authorization.
The organization, headed by Stephen Infante, He claims that the crime of falsification of a public instrument would have been committed in what happened with the judge, and therefore he requests the Public Prosecutor’s Office to carry out a series of proceedings to determine this.
The case of Judge Muñoz began in June 2023, when a report by Radio Biobío revealed that The daughter of the minister of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court had worked remotely from Europe during the pandemicmaking constant trips to Italy and Spain, while serving as a judge in the court in the southern part of the capital.
Following this complaint, the San Miguel Court of Appeals opened an administrative investigation against the judge, which concluded last April by issuing a “private reprimand” to the lawyer.
The investigation was based on three points: first, having carried out his work outside the jurisdiction, putting his health at risk by constantly travelling to the old continent and informing the Judiciary, through a form, of his address in Chile as the place where he would carry out remote work.
That last point was the only one that was included in the administrative investigation that sanctioned the judge.
This is part of the basis of the NGO’s complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office since it maintains thate The magistrate’s resolutions at that time indicate Santiago de Chile as the place of issue, despite the fact that this “was a falsehood since the judge was abroad, thus incurring in a falsification of a public instrument.”
According to the complainants, headed by Infante, what happened is of particular gravity for the entire justice system and public trust.
Despite this, the complaint adds, to date no “concrete measures have been adopted to carry out a serious investigation in order to determine the possible commission of illicit acts.”
In addition, the criminal complaint adds that teleworking during the pandemic “in no case meant making use of covert vacations, but rather is a measure of care aimed at safeguarding the health and safety of the population, and in this particular case of judicial officials” that was authorized by the Court of San Miguel.
For the same reason, he adds, It must also be investigated whether the request to perform remote work “is in accordance with the law and the reality of the facts.”
The complaint requests that the court in which the judge is a judge be notified to report on all the hearings that the judge conducted from March 2020 to October 2022, in addition to providing the resolutions that she issued at that time.
The same is requested for the Court of San Miguel, in order for it to deliver the report of the daughter of the Supreme Court minister with whom he requested teleworking for two years.
Finally, Infante’s complaint requests that the Prosecutor’s Office request information from the Administrative Corporation of the Judicial Branch, to detail whether the judge requested legal holidays during that time.
During the administrative phase of this case, the daughter of the Supreme Court minister appealed to the Constitutional Court (TC) to declare the internal investigation against her illegal, something that was rejected by that body.
2024-09-13 21:34:22