The Public Ministry decided not to persevere in the investigation for the alleged embezzlement of public funds within the Municipal Corporation of La Florida.
The facts under investigation pointed to a deficit of $20 billionverified by the Comptroller General of the Republic in a financial audit, which addressed a study period between January 2016 and mid-2017.
All this, in relation to the use of municipal contribution resources and external funds from the Ministry of Education and Health.
As reported by BioBioChile, the conclusions of the supervisory body were replicated in two complaints filed first by councilors of the commune and then by the State Defense Council (CDE), at the end of 2021.
According to this last presentation, it was evidenced that the municipal contributions were not entered into the current accounts created for it, so the “impossibility of detecting the destination of the funds” was determined.
The investigation even contemplated the search of municipal offices in mid-2018. However, following almost four years of processing and as anticipated, the prosecution finally decided not to continue with the case.
not persevere
The determination was communicated by the prosecutor in the case, Felipe Díaz Acuña, at a hearing that took place earlier this month before the Fourteenth Guarantee Court of Santiago. The resolution was later ratified by the same court, following rejecting the plaintiffs’ appeal.
According to sources close to the investigation, the dismissal considered an audit by Deloitte and an expert opinion by the PDI, to conclude that there were no crimes.
In addition, Any responsibility of Mayor Rodolfo Carter and any other official of the corporation was ruled out.
Required Gonzalo Rodríguez Herbach, a lawyer who represented the community chief in the case, said that the resolution confirms that “there are no records that allow determining the existence of crimes.”
“We are very satisfied and very satisfied,” he said.
From Carter’s environment, they pointed out that everything was due to political persecution.
Complainants evaluate going to the TC
From the opposite side, Santiago Trincado Moreno, a lawyer representing a dozen councilors opposed to the Carter administration, assured that “as plaintiffs, together with the State Defense Council, we express in court our disagreement with the decision not to persevere in the investigation that the Public Ministry took.”
“We believe that not all the diligences were carried out with the necessary depth that an investigation required, in which the questioning from where this case starts, as a result of the report of the Comptroller General of the Republic of 2018, is found in more than 2 thousand million pesos of the funds to support public education and a deficit of the Municipal Corporation for 20 billion pesos”, he added.
Along these lines, he explained that they resorted to the Court of Appeals of Santiago to reverse the measure of the Public Ministry. And -if necessary- he announced that they are considering going to the Constitutional Court (TC).
The Eastern Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office was not available for this article.
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