Asoex denounced the transfer of sensitive information to companies that are not part of this guild. The group described this as a very serious offense. They also pointed to an official from an agricultural products company.
The new case of alleged espionage must be investigated by the East Prosecutor's Office. Some time ago, the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (Sofofa) had denounced the installation of hidden microphones in the office of the presidency of the trade union. Last Friday, the Association of Fruit Exporters Of Chile (Asoex) filed a complaint. The group claims to be a victim of computer crime, through which sensitive information would have been transferred to other parties.
The lawsuit, presented by attorney Matias Balmaceda, was admitted on Monday by the Fourth Court of Guarantee of Santiago. The legal action points to crimes of improper access to data found in private data carriers. This is one of the crimes that is also being investigated in the Sofofa case.
"In January 2016 an internal investigation was initiated in order to establish the seizure and dissemination of internal information from Asoex. The investigation was started after having collected certain records that allow the presumption that an official of the agricultural company, Fresh del Monte is profiting from the transfer of sensitive information of the companies that integrate the entity," states the lawsuit.
Asoex started an internal investigation and, according to the document, they were able to confirm that a person or persons downloaded and transferred sensitive information for at least four years. Presumably, the people involved in this action profited from the data obtained, which in this case was confidential information belonging to Asoex.
According to the guild association, the suspects extracted the information and sent it outside working hours, which increases their suspicions regarding the possible culprits. This form contains information on the quantity, quality, type and price of the fruit to be exported. The information should only be distributed among the companies that are a part of Asoex."
The exporters' investigation also points to the alleged beneficiaries of this action. According to the investigation, the stolen file would have been sent to In-Globo, a company that is dedicated to export fruit logistics. "This company, which is internationally recognized, illegitimately acquired through a third party confidential information, which was subsequently provided to other companies that are not part of the association. This allowed them to have access to insider information regarding prices, quality, and the value of the fruit being exported, affecting the business of hundreds of national exporters who are part of Asoex," the lawsuit adds.
The complaint also states that the e-mails of the guild, Unifrutti and Dole had been breached and that the classified information was downloaded from these e-mails. "The information storage systems, specifically the Asoex, Unifrutti, and Dole emails have been breached, and sensitive information contained in them was downloaded," the text states.
"The information seems to have been leaked from Valparaíso, from Fresh del Monte, by the user OCisternas, i.e. Orlando Cisternas Vasquez, an official from the Fresh del Monte company, who downloaded the information and sent it to the In-Globo company. The information obtained, which included plans and other relevant commercial information, was being downloaded in Miami, and in the cities of Valparaíso, Rancagua, Curico, Talca, and Chillan, by companies outside Asoex," states the legal brief.
The guild considers these leaks to be very serious, as they could affect the companies that are part of this organization.
Orlando Cisternas, the official who allegedly downloaded the information, said yesterday that the complaint was wrong and false.
Ernesto Pino, the general manager of Fresh del Monte, stated that "we continuously work with Asoex, we have all kinds of collaboration agreements. They can investigate and they have our authorization in case there are situations like this, but I have no records of this ever happening." Pino also said that "if this is happening, the company and the association have nothing to do with it. If it's true, this is the work of one person."
Source: latercera.com