The lawyer accompanies the board of directors on a permanent basis, following the different cases in which the group is mentioned and in which its former partners, the Jalaff brothers, are investigated.
It was last Thursday when the deputy prosecutor of the Las Condes Prosecutor’s Office, Juan Pablo Araya, arrived at the Alonso Building to carry out a series of investigative procedures at the headquarters of Grupo Patio, in the framework of the Factop and Audios cases.
The diligence began around 1:00 p.m. at the premises of the real estate holding company, in order to request records from the building’s security cameras and to request the safeguarding of accounting information, among other types of backups.
As highlighted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office a week ago, the visit was carried out with the collaboration of the company’s new controllers. On Patio’s part, this approach would be part of the recent strategy adopted by the company.
Zaliasnik’s role would include being a bridge between the company and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
He would be promoting the idea of actively collaborating with the investigation.
This is because, according to DF, the real estate holding company hired a permanent consultancy from Albagli Zaliasnik’s partner, Gabriel Zaliasnik, which would have begun before the formalization of Luis Hermosilla and Leonarda Villalobos in the Audios case.
Sources familiar with the internal dynamics of the current Patio said that the criminal lawyer would be accompanying the company’s board of directors, led by Andrés Solari, in legal matters.
Although Grupo Patio is not directly involved in the cases, the board of directors would have estimated that it could count on the permanent advice of Zaliasnik to follow up on the cases. His role would also include being a bridge between the company and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as well as promoting the idea of active collaboration with the investigation.
The external legal team is joined by Oddo & Cía. partner Sebastián Oddó, who has already accompanied Patio in recent years. In fact, he participated in the agreement with Rodrigo Topelberg to unblock the sale of the portion of the company held, among others, by the Jalaff brothers.
More internal reviews
In addition, a new internal audit was commissioned for Patio. The new review was entrusted to the economist and lawyer Macarena Velazco, with a special focus on updating and implementing the real estate holding company’s compliance model.
This complements the external audit commissioned to Deloitte for 2023, which was requested after the Factop Case broke out, in search of possible operations with the factoring company and its related parties, and which was expanded in November after the publication of the controversial audio of the conversation between Luis Hermosilla, Leonarda Villalobos and Daniel Sauer, and the names mentioned therein.
New flank
But not all the issues are related to Factop. Last Monday a new flank was opened, after Ciper revealed that Hermosilla would have managed between 2020 and 2021 with the then Minister of Housing and Urbanism, Felipe Ward, construction permits to expedite a project in charge of Patio: Parque Capital. In this asset, the company owns 30% and the rest would belong to the Menichetti family.
Finally, this Wednesday, the Eastern Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the opening of an investigation against Ward.
Sources close to Patio said that although the company had already carried out an audit of the project, which did not reveal any irregularities, the new information prompted a new forensic analysis, this time focused on administrative and permitting processes.
Menichetti’s approach
Part of the collaborative approach also included the approach of Patio’s operations manager, Cristián Menichetti, to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Last Thursday, the executive voluntarily went to the East Prosecutor’s Office to hand over his computer and cell phone.
He was accompanied by his lawyer, Carey’s senior advisor, Rodrigo Aldoney, and he also made available his mail, for which he asked for protection hours later at Patio’s offices.
As a result of his approach and delivery of devices, the executive is currently under indictment within the investigation.
Meanwhile, those familiar with the investigation say that Menichetti would be a person of interest for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, mainly because of his appearance in the chats of Luis Hermosilla and because of the mentions in the statement of the former Patio accountant, Marcelo Medina del Gatto.
When consulted by DF, Menichetti’s entourage said that “he is fully cooperating and we hope that all the doubts can be clarified and that he will no longer have this status (as a defendant)”.