Supreme Court orders that funds be returned to lawyer for university credit

SANTIAGO. -  The Supreme Court has ruled that the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso –or the National Treasury- must reintegrate funds corresponding to the 2007 tax returns to a lawyer for university credit.

In a unanimous ruling, the Third Court of the maximum tribunal –which is made of Judges Adalis Oyarzún, Héctor Carreño, Sonia Araneda and attorneys Ricardo Peralta and Juan Carlos Cárcamo, upheld the decision that had been made by the Valparaíso Court of Appeals which had approved a remedy of protection presented by Emilio Balmaceda Jarufe.

The decision made by the high court requires that the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso or the National Treasury reimburse a total of $ 727,214 pesos, which had been retained from the 2007 tax declaration.

The decree is based on a Constitutional Tribunal ruling that declared it inapplicable to authorize the retention of taxes due debt with regards to the Unified University Credit Fund (Fondo Solidario de Crédito Universitario) administered by such processes.