Official accuses influence peddling in the purchase of a Carabineros helicopter

In the summer of 2013, Carabineros Major Cristián Cofré Trommer flew over Pucón piloting a helicopter that was not from the police institution. The goal was to show businessman Gonzalo Yarur Ready the capabilities of the machine, a Eurocopter EC-135. It was a private job, a "pituto" that became the beginning of a plot that led him to report Colonel Enzo Coppa Astorga, current head of the Prefecture, to his superiors and to the North Central Prosecutor's Office for High Complexity Crimes. Air Force Police. The accusation gave way to an investigation by the Public Ministry, still informal, for the alleged illicit influence peddling, bribery and incompatible negotiation.

Cofré's complaint, backed by emails, exposes the intermediary business that Colonel Coppa would have executed to provide police pilots to a private company. Among those pilots who were willing to earn extra money in their free time is Major Cofré himself, who has assured that he was "recruited" by Colonel Coppa to fly the aircraft owned by Eurocopter Chile (today Airbus Helicopters Chile) in Pucón. ).

The records that Major Cofré handed over to the police command and to the Prosecutor's Office indicate that Colonel Coppa commissioned this job for Eurocopter when Carabineros was simultaneously developing a tender to acquire a helicopter. The flight itself took place exactly the day after Eurocopter was awarded the tender, on February 18, 2013. The records of the Mercado Público platform show that the purchase was finalized on May 3, when Carabineros signed the contract with Eurocopter and paid US$5.6 million for the aircraft (over $2,643 million at the exchange rate of the time).

Carabineros informed CIPER that Colonel Coppa did not participate in this tender. However, when that contest was held, Coppa was already heading the Carabineros Air Prefecture and the technicians who evaluated the offers were his subordinates.

In addition to the accusation of Major Cofré, a previous claim, from 2012, is now known, which increases the suspicion that Colonel Coppa would have carried out the same work for other companies in the field. The complaint was addressed to the police high command and indicates that Coppa allegedly pressured an executive of another company, to which he also provided police pilots.

Carabineros assured CIPER that there is no impediment for the pilots, in their free time, to provide private services, as long as the institution's resources are not used. Regarding CIPER's query about whether an officer can act as a "coordinator" between private companies and their subordinates to carry out extra work, there was no official statement.

CIPER asked Colonel Enzo Coppa for an interview to respond to Major Cofré's accusations, but there was no response.

It is not the first time that Eurocopter has been mentioned in the context of an investigation related to purchases of military or police equipment. At the end of the 2000s, irregularities were denounced in the purchase of spare parts in the Army Air Brigade and, in addition, pressure to acquire eight Eurocopter Cougar model helicopters, an operation that benefited the most powerful Chilean arms dealer, Virgilio Cartoni, who acted as a representative of the company. This time the sale was made through a subsidiary of Eurocopter that is not related to Cartoni.

ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION

The inquiries based on Major Cofré's complaint gave rise to an "administrative investigation" in Carabineros by a colonel, who will have to study the background they have against two officers with outstanding careers.

Colonel Coppa Astorga has spent practically his entire career in the Air Prefecture and last year the high command assigned him as a Police Attaché at the Embassy of Chile in the United States, a coveted position in the institution and which has sometimes been a stepping stone for the generalate. Upon his return, he was appointed prefect of the Air Prefecture, the same position he had before leaving for Washington.

Major Cofré Trommer also specialized in helicopter pilot in the Prefecture, entering in 2010 the Academy of Police Sciences, the higher school where those who could reach the institutional high command are trained. Cofré won first place among the 52 students in his class, for which he received the "Ministry of Defense", "Ministry of the Interior" and "Medalla Carabineros de Chile" awards in 2011.

Later, Major Cofré was assigned to a course in Argentina and upon his return he worked as a commissioner of the El Bosque commune Police Station. Last year he assures that he was informed of his appointment as deputy director of the Police Training School, but abruptly -after filing an internal complaint against him- he was transferred as deputy prefect of the Melipilla Prefecture.

Those who know them describe Coppa as "very concerned with details, with a good relationship with some members of the high command and somewhat arrogant", while de Cofré highlights his "effectiveness as a commissioner and his motivation for studies" (he graduated from Law ), although they comment that he was sanctioned for carrying out risky maneuvers in a police helicopter from the El Bosque police station without authorization.

MILLIONAIRE CLIENTS

Cristián Cofré's statement lasted three hours at the North Central High Complexity Crime Prosecutor's Office, before the prosecutor Macarena Cañas. It was last January and he was accompanied by his lawyer, Hassan Zerán, who confirmed the complaint to CIPER and explained that in December the officer presented two documents to his superiors detailing the chain of events that began in early February 2013.

It was on Tuesday the 19th of that month that the greatest Cofré settled in Pucón. He had had to accommodate his vacations at the request of Colonel Coppa, who days before had insistently called him -says the lawyer- to make private flights in that southern area in order to show a helicopter. Cofré had been returning from Argentina and, although he had plans to go on vacation with his family, in the face of repeated calls from his former superior at the Air Prefecture, he agreed to do this job for which the company was going to pay him $1,400. 000. The older version indicates that, in turn, Coppa undertook to pay him an additional $2 million.

The colonel, according to Cofré, told him where to stay and asked him to remain discreet about the activity entrusted to him and other police pilots, whom the major identified as the then captains Javier Muñoz S. and Richard Ruiz A., and the Mayor Mario Ramírez Salazar.

All these details, Zerán says, are contained in document No. 23, dated December 9, 2014, that Cofré -when he was still serving at the El Bosque Police Station- addressed his immediate superior, the prefect(s) of the Santiago Prefecture South, Lieutenant Colonel Patricio Duguett. In that letter, Cofré requests that an administrative summary be initiated against Coppa and expressly points out that he accepts Law 20,205 that protects the public official who makes probity complaints.

According to document No. 23, when Cofré arrived in Pucón he discovered two things: that the accommodation was in tourist cabins belonging to relatives of Major Ramírez Salazar and that the aircraft he was to pilot was a Eurocopter EC-135 T2, registration CC- CHS, owned by the Chilean subsidiary of Eurocopter.

The older man knew that at the same time a similar aircraft was being tendered for Carabineros and that Eurocopter was one of the two applicants. For this reason, he assures that he telephoned Colonel Coppa from Pucón to tell him how inappropriate it was to maintain a private relationship with said company during the bidding period.

According to Major Cofré, Coppa reassured him by assuring him that he had a "good arrival" with his superior, General Bruno Villalobos, then director of Borders and Special Services, on whom the Air Prefecture depended. Villalobos is an officer who has the confidence of La Moneda and since September of last year he has been in charge of the investigation of the "Bombs case", after unifying under his command the intelligence work, the fight against drug trafficking and the investigation of criminal organizations. .

The day that Cofré flew with the client to whom he had to show the Eurocopter aircraft, he was completely clear in Pucón. The operations were carried out towards the mountain range, on Lake Caburgua, among other places. Previously, he had learned that the passenger was the businessman and lawyer Gonzalo Yarur Ready, fourth generation of the clan started by Juan Yarur Lolas, founder of the BCI bank. In those days, Yarur, his brother Carlos Juan and the Cerro Sombrero Real Estate and Investment company were preparing to set up an airline company, which they materialized on April 29, 2013 when Servicios Aerocomerciales Alas del Sur was born.

The ship for sale had belonged to Carlos Heller Solari (registration CC-CHS are the initials of his name and surname), from the family that owns Falabella, a partner in the company Bethia with his mother Liliana Solari, through which they control Mega TV and Azul Azul, among other companies. Heller got rid of that aircraft to buy in 2014 a larger capacity one from Eurocopter: model EC155 B1, for 15 people.

ACCUSING MAILS

Lawyer Hassan Zerán says that Cofré received the payment agreed upon with the company, almost $1,400,000, deposited directly into his checking account. But the same was not true of Colonel Coppa's alleged commitment to add another $2 million.

-Major Cofré tells in his complaint that in March 2013 he personally spoke with the colonel to ask him for what he owed and that he treated him in a disqualifying manner and told him that they had already paid for his services - Zerán maintains.

From then on, according to the account of the same lawyer, there was a chain of harassment against Cofré, which is related in the aforementioned document No. 23, and which culminated in the major being fined for flights he made over the El Bosque commune: it was not allowed to operate ships of the Air Prefecture.

Cofré attributes the punishment to the influence of Coppa, who was leaving for his mission in the United States on that date, but sources from the institution say that the sanction was due to the fact that Cofré carried out risky maneuvers during the flights from his police station, which were informed by crew.

In this environment, on November 21, 2014, Cofré sent an email to Coppa in which he once again asked for payment of what was owed from Pucón and warned him that, if the delivery of the money did not materialize, he would communicate the situation to their superiors.

To ratify that he had carried out this particular job in agreement with the colonel and demonstrate that he coordinated the business, Cofré attached the emails exchanged with Coppa to the letter that he presented to his superior. One of them reveals the connection of the colonel with the company that paid for the accommodation, fuel and operating expenses of the flights in Pucón: Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Cerro Sombrero. That email was sent with a copy to Isabel Hormann.

CIPER established that Isabel Hormann works for Inmobiliaria e Inversiones Cerro Sombrero, of which Gonzalo Yarur Ready is a partner. By telephone and by mail, the company was asked to answer queries about the Pucón flight and the relationship it had with Colonel Enzo Coppa. Until the closing of this article there was no answer.

This is the transcript of some of the emails that Cofré attached to his complaint (some personal data contained in these emails were omitted by CIPER) and that would prove that Colonel Coppa coordinated the payment of the pilots who flew the Eurocopter helicopter on the same dates that the tender that favored that company was decided:

February 22, 2013

Subject: Data Chest

From: Cristián Cofré Trommer

To: Colonel Enzo Coppa Astorga

My data is:

Banco de Chile Current Account (indicates the number, which CIPER omits)

Identity Card: 10.326.XXX-X

cristico@xxx.xx

Kind regards, Cristián Cofré Trommer

February 25, 2013

Subject: Data Chest

From: Isabel Hormann (ihormann@xxxx.xx)

Sent: Monday February 25, 2013 04.40.40 am

To: Enzo Coppa (ecoppaxxx@xxxx.xx), cristico@xxx.xx

I enclose a copy of the transfer for $1,500,000

Regards Isabel

The same mail has added this previous mail from Enzo Coppa to Isabel Hormann

On 22-2-13 15.49, Enzo Coppa wrote:

Elizabeth:

I am sending you the data of the new pilot who must pay expenses, please if you can deposit directly $1,500,000

The data is

Current account bank of Chile (indicate the number)

Identity Card: 10.326.XXX-X

cristico@xxx.xx

On February 26, the exchange of emails continued, this time from Cofré to Coppa to provide information:

"My Colonel, the helo has flown from Santiago on January 23 to February 19 for a total of 22 hours."

On March 1, Cofré pays again to Coppa, this time the expenses:

Subject: Pucón Expenses

From: Cristián Cofré Trommer

To: Colonel Enzo Coppa Astorga

My Colonel, the money consisting of $1,500,000 deposited in my account for operational expenses was distributed as follows:

1) I deposited $643,960 to Ernesto Ávila for lodging and food expenses. Ávila will give you the ballots giving you an account.

2) I deposited $856,040 to Javier Muñoz for the payment of fuel and other expenses. Muñoz will give you tickets.

Regarding my expenses, I will try to start leaving the tickets for you during the week.

Mario Ramírez's mother told me that Mario would see the payment of the cabin directly with you.

Stay tuned to your comments

Thank you very much.

Best regards

Cristian Cofre Trommer.

On March 5, Coppa insists to Cofré in an email

Subject: Pucón Expenses

From: Colonel Enzo Coppa

To: Cristian Cofré

Cristián I'm missing your expenses and your ticket.

FAILED CLAIM: PRESSURE FROM ITALY

Three weeks after presenting his internal complaint, Major Cristián Cofré expanded it, sending official letter No. 24, dated December 31, 2014, to the titular prefect of Santiago Sur, Colonel Renato Avello. The document states that in 2012 the then representative in Chile of the Italian giant of the defense industry, Finmeccanica, Francisco Guzmán Greene, addressed a letter of complaint against Colonel Enzo Coppa to the general director of Carabineros, Gustavo González Jure. In the letter, Guzmán recounts that in 2006 and 2007 – while a tender was being held for four helicopters that was won by the company Augusta Westland, which Guzmán represented in those years – he was insistently pressured by Coppa to hire a relative in a managerial position:

«During that period, the then-major Coppa tried to maintain a personal protagonist position in front of me, in which he regularly summoned me to his office in the Police Prefecture to ask me for personal favors. Over time, this situation became very uncomfortable, since he pressured me to give his brother-in-law a job as a manager and asked me for a commission for the sale of a civilian helicopter that he was managing,” says Guzmán’s letter, dated April 11, 2012.

The claim added that Lassa SA, representative of Augusta, "needed pilots to do frost control work, to which Major Coppa asked me to hire him to do this work and that he was going to coordinate a role of pilots for the Air Police Prefecture and directly negotiate the fees with the pilots. I could only negotiate and pay Major Coppa in cash. This was done and I personally paid the current Colonel Coppa for pilots' fees.

In his letter to the general director, Guzmán pointed out that the foregoing could be verified by reviewing the logs of the helicopters, where the names of the pilots who flew them are found.

But the claim suffered an unexpected setback: on May 23, 2012, Guzmán received a letter from Italy. It was signed by Massimo Ghione, Vice President of Marketing and International Sales of AleniaAermacchi, which is one of the divisions of Finmecannica. Today Ghione is the general vice president of the company. In that letter, he told Guzmán that they had been informed of the claim and warned him that the company thought that it was damaging relations with the Carabineros and the Chilean Armed Forces. The epilogue was on May 31. Francisco Guzmán sent a new letter to General González Jure, this time to withdraw the complaint against Coppa. (See the letters of Guzmán Greene and Massimo Ghione)

CIPER contacted Guzmán, who replied that he preferred not to comment, but that "the letters speak for themselves."

Major Cristián Cofré also extended his complaint to Coppa's alleged interventions in the helicopter tenders for Carabineros. He asserts in document No. 24 that Guzmán Greene, in the claim letter he sent to General González Jure, revealed that in another tender in 2008, Coppa summoned him to his office and told him that "he decided which helicopter the Carabineros bought or not." and that he could modify the technical bases so that one or the other would win. The same letter from Guzmán assures that he reported this to the Director of Logistics at the time, General Anselmo Flores, who, in the presence of the manager, called Colonel Jorge Vidal Varas and ordered him not to change any of the requirements already established.

TWO DELIVERY DATES

With the background of the flight coordinated by Coppa in Pucón, plus the old letters from Francisco Guzmán, Major Cofré searched for information on the 2013 tender that Eurocopter won, identified in the State procurement portal by No. 5240-284-LP12. Cofré requested the bidding documents in November of last year using the Transparency Law, but they were denied by Carabineros. The response he received from the institution states:

“Existing mechanisms that allow personnel in active service to have access to the information that affects them, in their capacity as public servants, they must make use of them to request the delivery of information and subsidiarily and in case of not obtaining it, they may resort to the generally applicable regulations, which is Law 20,285«.

In summary, this response, signed by Colonel Ramiro Larraín Donoso, head of the Department of Public Information and Lobbying of the Inspector General of Carabineros, informed Cofré on December 12, 2014 that the information on the tender should be requested through the "regular ducts". This, despite the fact that the Transparency Law does not make an exception regarding citizens who can invoke it and the uniformed officers are not prevented from resorting to it, says lawyer Zerán.

The helicopter tender began in 2012, with the preparation and publication of the bases. As has happened in recent years, the companies AugustaWestland and Eurocopter were the only competitors. The Carabineros budget for the acquisition was US$5,619,781.39. Eurocopter offered a price of US$5,615,000 and Augusta offered a little cheaper: US$5,594,520.

The technical evaluation report was carried out by a commission of seven people headed by Lieutenant Colonel Claudio Guzmán Acevedo from the Air Prefecture, plus three pilots and two non-commissioned officers from the same division that directs Coppa, and a civil aeronautical engineer who did not sign the document. for being on "holiday". The commission gave Augusta the highest score (39) and Eurocopter slightly less (37.1), but the latter ultimately won the bid for offering delivery of the helicopter in just 25 days, while Augusta took 270 days (see award report).

According to Zerán, it is strange that in order to decide the tender, a high weighting of 20% was assigned to the delivery time of the device, since it is usual for manufacturers not to have a helicopter in stock, since they are manufactured to order.

Cofré also denounced that supposedly the EC-135 helicopter would not have been delivered on the date stipulated in the contract -25 days from the opening of the letter of credit- but in November 2013, but that despite this the fines would not have been collected. agreed upon of about US$ 120,000 per month.

CIPER consulted Eurocopter and Carabineros for the date on which the institution received the aircraft. The Purchasing Department of the uniformed police reported that the aircraft entered the country through the customs office of the Merino Benítez airport on May 9, 2013, to prove it, it exhibited the Customs Entry Declaration No. 8300006117-7, where it is declared that it is a « ammunition", so it was exempt from liens.

The Purchasing Department added that, after the certifications, the device was "accepted in accordance" on July 9 of that year. In turn, the company replied that the delivery was made on July 1, 2013, within the deadline, since the contract signed between Eurocopter Cono Sur and Carabineros, on May 3, established a 25-calendar-day deadline from the “opening of the letter of credit”, which took place on June 14.

THE EUROCOPTER EXPLAINED

At the Tobalaba aerodrome, facing José Arrieta avenue, are the offices of Airbus Helicopters Chile, the successor to Eurocopter. The company not only sells the aircraft, it also gives them complete maintenance, since it has the personnel and the technology to carry out the so-called “overhaul” of the devices, which consists of completely disassembling and reassembling them, leaving them as good as new. Its general manager, Alexandre Ceccacci, is proud of that, since he comments that the technicians are Chilean, that they started with less than 10 employees and that now there are a hundred.

The company has grown in 12 years, but Ceccacci lamented that in tenders with Carabineros they have usually lost to the competition: "Out of seven, we have won one," he said. And he added: "Carabineros are very hard to negotiate, they put low prices and high technical demands that leave little room for the company, but we are interested in being in Chile and participating in the tenders, because that is how we show ourselves."

Regarding the 2013 tender, he explains that they participated following the process defined in the bases and that the victory gave them the delivery deadline: "We have nothing to hide."

-Just 25 days for delivery, isn't that unusual since the helicopters are not in stock?

-The company had this opportunity this time and we took the risk. On another occasion it has been the competition.

-Does your company have a paid commercial contract or agreement with Colonel Enzo Coppa to provide you with Carabineros pilots who can perform private jobs?

-We have no contract with Mr. Coppa. He is a person who knows the characteristics of our helicopters and those of other companies. Occasionally, he can advise us on a pilot, but period. That is the type of conversation that can take place and there has been no remuneration.

Ceccacci explains that his company and others hire police and Armed Forces pilots to carry out flights that are paid for with fees, since there is a shortage of these specialists: “We have a pilot who can fly three or four types of helicopters, but not 12. and there are times when he is in courses. We all turn to outside pilots.”

-In February 2013, Major Cristián Cofré and other police pilots flew the Eurocopter CC-CHS in Pucón to show it to a private individual. How was it organized and why did Mr. Coppa supposedly coordinate the pilots?

-It is unusual that we have a used aircraft to sell, but it happened. There was an interested party and we reached an agreement for him to try it, to see if he liked it. This was arranged with the client and we only put the pilots on the insurance payroll so that they would be covered for any eventuality. If what you say happened (about Coppa) I don't know what to answer you, because I don't know if it happened.

-Which pilots were paid and against what documents?

-We did not pay, we only put the helicopter and the insurance of the pilots. I understand that the expenses were borne by the client.

-Who was the client?

-The policy of our company is to keep discretion about our clients.

-Was it a wrong decision that police pilots flew a helicopter of yours in Pucón just when the tender was taking place?

-That flight and the tender were not related at all. Not because a pilot has flown the other occurs. I don't see the topic.

INTERNAL INVESTIGATION

Lieutenant Colonel Alex Chaván, deputy head of the Carabineros Social Communications Directorate, assures that the choice of the Eurocopter EC-135 complied with all legalities. During the tenders, he said, the officials of the Carabineros Purchasing Directorate are strictly prohibited from discussing these processes, outside the established channels, with the companies in competition. And he explained that since it is an acquisition of over $200 million, the Comptroller General of the Republic reviews the bidding conditions and also the award and the contract.

The officer explained that in order to acquire a plane, it is the Air Prefecture that advises the high command on the capabilities that the device must meet. Already in the tender, a commission is formed headed by an official from the Prefecture, who in turn appoints the rest of the members. The commission issues a Technical Evaluation Report. Commander Chaván told CIPER that “in this case, the report gave the Augusta helicopter a higher score. But finally Eurocopter won for the best delivery time. On the contrary, in 2014, in the tender No. 52-40-254-LP14 for another helicopter, Augusta offered 30 days of delivery and Eurocopter 60, and Augusta won.”

-Colonel Coppa, what position did you occupy in that Prefecture in February 2013?

– He was the prefect, the same position he has now.

-Did he intervene in the bidding, given his position?

-No, I base myself on the antecedents in sight. You don't see any kind of decision or influence. Only the people indicated (in the technical report) participate.

Regarding the pilots being able to carry out extra-institutional work, Lieutenant Colonel Chaván cited a 2005 ruling from the Comptroller's Office: "The performance of a position in Carabineros is compatible with the exercise of paid functions, which can be fulfilled in any public entity or private, provided that they are carried out outside working hours and that public or institutional interests are not opposed to private interests.

-The suspicion is because police pilots flew a Eurocopter aircraft in Pucón during the 2013 tender in which that company participated.

-This is not the case, because (it is prohibited) only if it affects the work of the Carabineros or a tool of ours is being used. For the rest, on the date of the flights there could not even have been influence, because the resolution (of award) had already been made and was in control of legality.

-But the complaint is that the prefect would have provided police pilots to a company that participated in the tender.

-Those are the sayings of the greatest Cofré. It must be understood that this is an administrative investigation, not a judicial one, and there are things that are within the private orbit of people. Therefore, that fact would have to go through some kind of investigation that could investigate people's privacy.

-What is the status of the internal investigation into the complaints of Major Cofré?

-The internal investigation is underway and the officer in charge has carried out several procedures, such as taking a statement from Colonel Coppa and he still has to do it with Major Cofré, who has not appeared. So far, from an administrative point of view, there is no verifiable background on (the complaints against) Colonel Enzo Coppa.