By: Nicolás Sepúlveda
(Read news in Ciper)
In Pablo Zalaquett's apartment in Lo Barnechea, a meeting took place that until now had not been disclosed. It was a lunch attended by the ministers of Economy, Nicolás Grau, and Environment, Maisa Rojas, as well as salmon farming businessmen. The meeting was not recorded in the Infolobby registry, despite the fact that Zalaquett - former mayor of Santiago and La Florida - has been a lobbyist since he was prosecuted for illegal political financing, when the prosecutor's office detected that ideologically false receipts were used to finance his failed senatorial campaign in 2013. In any case, he was not convicted. He reached an agreement with the Public Prosecutor's Office and his case was suspended after the payment of $40 million.
Neither the ministers nor Zalaquett wanted to disclose the names of all the diners. Minister Grau told CIPER that there were approximately eight people. Another participant, who requested anonymity, indicated that there were ten people and that the meeting took place at the end of November.
CIPER was able to confirm that Rodrigo Sarquis Said, director of Blumar, the fishing company that was also in the crosshairs of justice for illegally financing political campaigns, was at the lunch. Sarquis is a cousin of Pablo Zalaquett, who is registered as a lobbyist for Blumar in meetings with different authorities during the second government of Sebastián Piñera.
CIPER asked Ministers Grau and Rojas if the new Fishing Law was discussed at the dinner. The details of this legal project were presented last December 21, by President Gabriel Boric. Minister Grau indicated that the details of this legislation were not part of the conversation at Zalaquett's house. In any case, the initiative takes away benefits from the fishing industry and increases quotas for artisanal fishing.
- I was at a meeting at Zalaquett's house in which we talked about salmon farming, the long-term vision that each one of the industry had. In the case of salmon farming, the dialogues that will result in a bill are just being organized," Grau told CIPER.
After lunch, an important milestone related to the salmon industry took place. On Tuesday, December 19, Minister Rojas made public a commitment with the companies AquaChile and Cooke to carry out the first relocations of aquaculture concessions in national parks, which would leave salmon farming outside these protected areas. Minister Grau was also present at the signing of this commitment.
Minister Maisa Rojas did not respond to the messages sent to her for this report. The Ministry of the Environment responded tersely in writing: "Minister Rojas received an invitation to a dinner with actors linked to salmon farming. At no time were particular issues or decisions of interest to any company discussed, but rather a review of general issues in the sector. This took place after the tensions resulting from the enactment of the Law that creates the SBAP". The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP) was created after the law was enacted last August.
Off the microphone, another of the meeting attendees said that the main topic of the meeting was the permits that must be granted by the public apparatus which, in his opinion, delay investments: "We talked about many things, about growth. The idea was to talk about 'red tape', the pro-growth agenda and how we can help the government. It is good to be able to talk.
Pablo Zalaquett did not want to refer to the meeting and Rodrigo Sarquis did not answer CIPER's messages. Blumar also did not refer to the meeting with the ministers.
When we asked Minister Grau about the names of the other attendees, he declined to elaborate: "I don't think it is my place to speak for others, but I can say that there were more people from the salmon farming industry". Minister Rojas did not answer this question.
As to why the meeting was not registered in the Lobby Law platform, Grau answered: "In general, I do not register all my meals, unless there is an issue of interest to a particular individual. But that, in general, I deal with it in meetings during working hours".
(Read news in Ciper)