The judge of the Supreme Court, Sergio Muñoz Gajardoaccepted to be left out of the processing of the trial that is being conducted before the highest court in the country, for the real estate megaproject Egaña Comunidad Sustentable de Ñuñoa.
The case was opened following the Environmental Evaluation Commission of the Metropolitan Region will paralyze the initiative which contemplates the construction of four apartment towers in Plaza Egaña and which -at first- had obtained the green light from the SEA.
Muñoz’s determination comes following the firm requested his recusal, arguing that the daughter of the magistrate and judge of the Twelfth Guarantee Court of Santiago, Graciel Muñoz Tapia, signed a promise to purchase contract for two apartments in the project.
Later, the company charged, The professional would back down on the investment, following requesting the return of the money. This, they add, demonstrates an “adverse view” of the judge regarding the initiative.
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Thus, this Wednesday the minister evacuated the transfer required by the Court of Appeals of Santiago. Through a five-page document – to which he agreed BBCL Investigates– Muñoz accepted his recusal, despite considering that the grounds contemplated in the Organic Code of Courts “does not apply”.
In his opinion, the decision was made “with the sole purpose that the incidentalist (the fundamental company) obtain the judgment excluding me from the integration of the court, which in his opinion would offer him greater guarantees”.
In the brief, the magistrate also said that “he was not aware of the promise of sale contracts agreed by the company Plaza Egaña SpA” with his daughter Graciel. Something that, according to he commented, he only found out on December 22, 2022.
“I do not comment within my family on the particular processes in which I participate as a minister, for which reason I have not expressed an opinion on the pending issue (of the case that is being processed in the Supreme Court),” he added.
In this way, the cause will have to return to its beginnings and the parties will have to present their arguments once more in a room that will not have the presence of Judge Muñoz.
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