“There are no disqualifications regarding the authorities indicated in the procedure that resolved the claims presented against the environmental qualification resolution of the Dominga project.” This is what is stated in a ruling that the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) issued on August 7, 2023 and that was signed by the then comptroller, Jorge Bermúdez. This, in response to a request for disqualification from the lawyers of the La Higuera Community Association and Jorge Cabrera Contreras.
The ruling becomes relevant after this morning, UDI deputies announced that they are going to inform the CGR with the aim of disqualifying Minister Maisa Rojas when the Committee of Ministers votes again on the project of the incumbent Andes Iron. The CGR expressly points out that Minister Maisa Rojas did not violate the duty of probity in the exercise of her functions as part of the Committee of Ministers that voted to reject the Dominga project.
The ruling of the First Environmental Court, published last Monday, cites the Comptroller’s Office but omits this opinion, and maintains that Minister Rojas publicly issued judgments against the project in an interview in 2021. At that time, the climatologist was not working as a minister. But in its opinion the CGR states that “the opinions expressed by the ministers prior to their participation in the aforementioned committee – most of them before assuming those State Portfolios – were formulated in general terms, which does not allow assert that they violated the duty of probity in the exercise of their functions as members of the Committee of Ministers.”
In this regard, Deputy Carolina Tello Minister commented on the social network X that Minister Rojas “did not refer to Dominga while she was in office. When it was reported to the CGR, the body concluded in its opinion that the duty of probity was not violated in the exercise of its functions. Clearing this point will be the subject of future allegations in the Supreme Court.”
The CRG adds in its opinion that the decision adopted in the Committee of Ministers – which rejected the Dominga project – by each of the authorities “was in a framework different from that of the opinions expressed previously, which is also technical and regulated.” . It also points out that “the minutes of the first ordinary session of the aforementioned committee, held on January 18, 2023, show that the pertinent votes contain arguments of a technical nature and were based on antecedents of that nature, such as the reports evacuated for this purpose by the SAG and the CONAF.”
Swiss
