Piñera announces deep reform of armed forces after corruption scandals | National

President Sebastián Piñera has announced a reform of the armed forces because of the corruption scandals that have occurred in recent decades, especially the army. The president asked Minister Espina to review the appointment of the high command of the army for 2019. So that no promoted officer is involved in acts of corruption.

At the beginning of the week, military justice was tried. Army number two, General John Grifftihs – who had to give up the institution – after visiting minister, Romy Rutherford, accused him of the crime of repeated tax evasion.

The army, which is now retired, is under investigation for misuse of airline tickets abroad, which would have meant a loss of 44 million pesos, with the modality to change the clbad of the flight seat, retaining the rest without that of it reported to the institution or reinstated this money in the coffers of the army.

The fraud could have occurred between 2009 and 2014.

The Griffiths situation immediately triggered the alerts to the Ministry of Defense and, incidentally, to the La Moneda Palace, since the orderly judicial inquiry by the minister. Rutherford is studying more than 1,500 trips during which the same delusional modus operandi could have been used.

It is therefore practically part of the current High Command of the Army, which includes generals, colonels and NCOs, who are currently under review. .

But the truth is that this is not the only thing we have seen in recent years about the people in uniform who stole their institution, as it happened for the carabinieri and the rest of the armed forces, which is why President Sebastián Piñera decided to set the tone for his statements.

For example, in an interview with the newspaper El Mercurio, the president said that in his opinion "this action is a legacy of the military government," adding that the military institutions and order inherited or supposed to excessive autonomy of the civil power.

Words that he reiterated publicly during his visit to the extreme south of Chile, where he said that they were studying an in-depth reform of the army and the armed forces in general, similar to what they did with the carabinieri, during an activity in Punta Arenas.

"I think that in the past, the forces of order enjoyed a degree of autonomy that did not allow the democratically elected civilian power to exercise greater control over questions of probity, judicious use of public resources and that we had already changed in the carabineros, (something) quite similar, we will develop in the Chilean army and in all branches of armed forces and law enforcement, "he said.

The president explained that this reform included military administration of their resources and deliver them to civilians who could be designated through the high-level public management system.

An in-depth operation that marks an important milestone in the administration of the armed forces, which was not the case for the center-left governments that have ruled the state since the end of the military civic dictatorship .

The proposal of the President is currently being evaluated by the Ministry of Defense headed by Alberto Espina, the same document that Sebastián Piñera said, carries out evaluations to prevent the promotion of the a corrupt officer in the high command of the army in 2019.

In the same spirit, Piñera acknowledged that he would take the necessary time to continue the appointment of the new military high command.

RN deputy Miguel Mellado said that, given the known history of the army, where the list of people involved should be extended, it will be urgent to change this line.

R & D MP and member of the Defense Committee, Jorge Brito, also insisted on the need to know the whole truth about the events surrounding the army and the armed forces in general.