Updated | Chilean fighting extradition on fraud charges released on bail

Chilean businessman Alberto Chang Rajii, who is wanted in his home country to face fraud charges, has been released from arrest after stumping up €100,000 in bail money.

Reports that he had been released from custody in the past two hours have been confirmed by multiple sources. 

Chang Rajii had been in police custody since he was arrested earlier this month, having been unable to pay his €100,000 bail deposit due to administrative limitations.

Extradition proceedings against the businessman continued today before magistrate Aaron Bugeja.

During today’s court sitting, Chang Rajii’s defence lawyer Stefano Filletti slammed public prosecutors for objecting to his client’s request to access his laptop and the data it contained, suggesting they were giving preferential treatment to the Chilean authorities.

Conflict of interest in Chilean supreme court suggested

The defence argued that the Supreme Court judge who ordered the man’s extradition had a personal interest in doing so.

Filletti argued that according to Chilean media reports, Judge Carlos Gajardos Galdabez, who had dismissed a legal challenge to the extradition, also had a personal interest in Chang Rajii’s extradition because his partner and her family had lost a substantial investment in the collapse of Chang Rajii’s Grupo Arcano.

“The same judge had refused to recuse himself, saying that he wanted Chang to come to Chile,” Filletti pointed out. “I find it strange that the Chilean prosecutor has sent us three feet of documents but this particular application and decree is missing, as then it gives rise to doubts as to who is giving this information.”

Galdabez’s refusal facilitated the extradition, the court was told. “Whether or not the judge was removed was not part of the extradition,” the Attorney General’s lawyer Vincienne Vella argued, while promising to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, Alberto Chang Rajii’s mother and alleged accomplice, Veronica Rajii, is out on bail after being charged with fraud and violation of banking law in Chile.

Chang Rajii’s defence lawyers Stefano Filletti and Stephen Tonna Lowell pointed out that fraud was included as a predicate offence for the offence of money laundering only in 2015 in Chile.

Chang Rajii not allowed to access his laptop

Chang Rajii’s defence also requested that the court allow him to use his laptop, which is still in his Sliema apartment, because it contained information that was important to the defence. Prison regulations prohibit him from using it there. 

Magistrate Bugeja observed that it was a very delicate issue because on the one hand the court could not deny the requested person’s right to prepare a proper defence. The issue relating to the computer and other data could be an issue of concern to the prison regulations on the other hand.

The prosecution formally objected to this request due to the possibility of him tampering with data, explaining to the court that it had not been seized because the Chilean authorities had not requested an examination of Chang Rajii’s computer, nor had they replied to Malta’s requests for clarification as to whether they wanted one.

The magistrate, himself a former prosecutor, remarked that it was unusual for the Chilean authorities not to have made the request.

Shooting down the argument as “preposterous”, Filletti said the request for the seizure of Chang Rajii’s data “beggars belief” and “smacks of collusion,” as it would be the perfect way to silence the accused. “That at this stage there is a blanket prohibition on the accused accessing his laptop, given that he was granted bail and deemed suitable for bail, is not acceptable.”

It was a malicious request, Filletti said, arguing that any seizure of the laptop would be intended to prevent the preparation of a robust defence.

The case continues in January. 

Lawyer Vincenne Vella appeared for the office of the Attorney General. Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Stephen Tonna Lowell are defence counsel. Inspector Christopher Galea Scannura also prosecuted.