Former Constitutional Court president supports reform, says accusations not used properly

Marisol Peña, former president of Chile's Constitutional Court, has voiced support for a reform, asserting that constitutional accusations are being misused. Peña, now director of the Constitutional Justice Center at Universidad del Desarrollo, stated in a Cooperativa interview that the current constitutional accusation against former Minister of Finance Nicolás Grau is unfounded and unlikely to be approved by the Senate.

Peña acknowledged that it is not uncommon for former ministers of state to face constitutional accusations, citing recent cases against ministers and even Supreme Court justices who were ultimately removed from office. However, she highlighted a key distinction in Grau's situation.

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It is not novel that a former minister of state is constitutionally accused, because undoubtedly the accusations in recent years have basically fallen on ministers of state, with the exception of the accusations against ministers of the Supreme Court who finally ended up being removed from office.

"This accusation has the particularity of not configuring the legal levels imputed to the former Minister of Finance," Peña explained. She elaborated that while negligence and poor performance in office are alleged, these claims do not meet the constitutional responsibility threshold required for such severe sanctions, including potential disqualification from public office.

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I believe that this accusation has the particularity of not managing to configure the legal levels that are imputed to the former Minister of Finance. In other words, negligence and poor performance in his position are imputed to him, but that is not sufficient to configure a constitutional responsibility that carries with it disqualification.