The Chilean Supreme Court has opened an investigation into Justice Diego Simpértigue after it emerged that he went on a cruise with a lawyer for the Belarusian consortium Belaz-Movitec (CBM) just two days after the conclusion of a legal dispute between CBM and Codelco. Simpértigue not only voted in favor of CBM but also authored the ruling that ordered Codelco to pay the company more than 1.026 billion pesos.
Earlier, prosecutors in Chile were reported to be investigating alleged bribes that CBM lawyers may have given to former justice Ángela Vivanco in exchange for favorable decisions. Now Simpértigue is also under suspicion, as media reports indicate he was closely linked to one of the CBM lawyers. His name also appears in another potential wrongdoing — participation in informal negotiations over judicial appointments.
The case has been assigned to judicial prosecutor Jorge Pizarro, and Simpértigue remains on the Supreme Court bench.
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The relationship between CBM and Codelco began in spring 2021, when CBM won a tender to build roads and remove soil as part of the Rajo Inca copper-mining project. Codelco planned to invest 1.383 billion dollars to extend the operating life of one of its seven mining divisions in the Chilean district of Salvador.
In June 2021, BelAZ reported signing a contract to supply 18 vehicles to Chile, but by September that year, Lithuanian customs in the Port of Klaipeda detained 18 shipping containers with four machine kits for haul trucks after BelAZ was included in the European Union’s fourth package of sanctions imposed following the Ryanair plane landing in Minsk.
On 1 February 2023, Codelco took a drastic step and terminated its contract with CBM, then tasked Tepsac, Bailac, Komatsu and Detroit with completing the work.
The case was examined in the courts and also had a diplomatic dimension. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry intervened in defense of the Belarusian company.