Chile's Public Security Minister Trinidad Steinert announced she will file a criminal lawsuit against Senator Daniel Núñez (PC) for injurious imputation after his criticisms over her business ties to an ex-husband who defended a drug trafficker. Núñez demanded her resignation, citing risks of organized crime infiltration. Steinert rejected the claims and defended the dormant society.
The controversy arose after a La Segunda report revealed that Minister Trinidad Steinert maintains a real estate company, Inmobiliaria e Inversiones El Yunke Limitada, with her ex-husband Rodrigo Irrazabal Izikson. This lawyer appears on the Comptroller General of the Republic's registry of professionals who have defended defendants under Law 20.000 on drug trafficking.
Senator Daniel Núñez (PC) sharply criticized the link on social media. "It is a grave error that the Public Security Minister has not dissolved the commercial society she maintained with her ex-partner, a lawyer who defended a well-known trafficker in a highly publicized drug case," he stated. He added it poses a risk of drug trafficking infiltration into the State and demanded Steinert "step aside" to ensure absolute certainty.
On April 30, Steinert addressed the press flanked by undersecretaries Andrés Jouannet and Ana Victoria Quintana. "The lawyer linked to me by the publication is my ex-husband, with whom 25 years ago we formed a society that never had movements and which we did not dissolve after annulling our marriage," she explained. She noted Irrazabal represented a person linked to such crimes only once 16 years ago, rejecting insinuations and stating "in politics not everything goes".
On May 1, Steinert announced the lawsuit on social media. "I will file a criminal complaint against PC Senator Daniel Núñez for injurious imputation, damaging my honor. Zero tolerance for those who harm public servants, as also happened with Minister Lincolao," she wrote. "Criminal gangs do not intimidate us, nor do Mr. Núñez's calumnies," she added.
