A court in Santiago has ordered three suspects in a major corruption case involving the Chilean-Belarusian consortium Belaz Movitec SpA to remain in custody while the investigation continues. The case centres on allegations of a network of influence within Chile’s judicial system.
On Saturday, 15 November, the Seventh Court of Guarantee of Santiago ruled to detain Víctor Gonzalo Migueles Oteiza — charged with repeated bribery and money laundering — as well as Mario Andrés Vargas Cociña and Carlos Eduardo Lagos Herrera, both accused of money laundering and repeated bribery. The investigation period was set at 90 days.
Judge Michel Ibacache Toledo stated that releasing the defendants would pose a threat to society and risk obstructing the investigation. She noted that materials presented by prosecutors indicate the existence of a corruption network allegedly involving senior judicial officials, notaries, and lawyers.
According to investigators, Migueles Oteiza and his partner, former Supreme Court judge Ángela Francisca Vivanco Martínez, maintained close ties with lawyers Vargas Cociña and Lagos Herrera. Prosecutors claim that in 2023 the accused lawyers secured favourable decisions in cases involving the Chilean-Belarusian consortium Belaz Movitec SpA, while Vivanco Martínez, without recusing herself, participated in rulings that resulted in substantial payments from the state-owned mining company Codelco. Part of the funds allegedly returned to Vivanco Martínez and Migueles Oteiza as illicit compensation.
The court viewed these circumstances as evidence of a high risk of interference in the investigation and ordered that the defendants remain in custody.
***
The conflict between CBM and Codelco dates back to spring 2021, when CBM won a tender for road construction and earth removal under the Rajo Inca copper mining project. Codelco planned to invest USD 1.383 billion to extend the life of one of its seven mining divisions in the Salvador area.
In June 2021, BelAZ reported signing a contract to supply 18 vehicles to Chile, but by September Lithuanian customs had detained 18 shipping containers containing four machine kits for mining trucks in the port of Klaipėda, as BelAZ had been included in the EU’s fourth sanctions package following the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.
On 1 February 2023, Codelco terminated its contract with CBM and assigned the remaining work to Tepsac, Bailac, Komatsu and Detroit.
The dispute moved through the courts and also gained diplomatic dimensions, with the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly defending the Belarusian company.