In the midst of questions regarding his alleged relationship with the former mayor of Lo Barnechea, Felipe Guevara, today the new National Prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, took office, who denied knowing the former Metropolitan mayor and who has already spoken regarding this issue in front of the Senate. Pro-government and opposition senators affirmed that they will wait for the head of the Public Ministry to confirm or rule out his relationship with the former mayor and the alleged issuance of ballots.
This Thursday the new National Prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, denied knowing the former mayor and former mayor Felipe Guevara, and avoided facing this controversy.
When asked regarding his supposed link with Guevara, Valencia said that “regarding this point, I made my presentation before the Senate (…). I would like to reiterate once once more that I do not know Mr. Guevara and I have no personal relationship with him.”
Let us remember that a report by Ciper Chile revealed the links that united the new leader of the Prosecutor’s Office with the municipality of Lo Barnechea and the Metropolitan Administration, led by Guevara.
The latter was accused of being the author of the “method” to allegedly divert money from the municipality of Vitacura, in a case that is currently being investigated by the Public Ministry.
According to the Ciper article, Valencia appears on the payroll of Lo Barnechea municipal staff since February 2015, receiving an amount of 1 million pesos per month.
In total, the new national prosecutor received 57 payments for the link that united him until 2019, although along the way he changed his role, limiting himself to “Special criminal legal advice; sponsorship of trials and criminal investigations”.
Valencia also clarified that “it is also a fact of public knowledge. I would like to point out that a few days ago I was the external lawyer of the Municipality of Lo Barnechea, I understand that all the information that has been exhibited has to do with the municipality (…)”.
“I will disqualify myself in what has to disable me accordingly. I have already said what I have to say on this subject, and I am not going to repeat it once more”, emphasized the new National Prosecutor.
Regarding the pardons granted by the President of the Republic, Valencia stated that he had just joined the National Prosecutor’s Office and that “I would not like to issue an opinion on a past event.”
Link with Lo Barnechea
Likewise, Valencia reiterated that he was “external lawyer for the Municipality of Lo Barnechea until the end of December and even longer. They intended to renew the contract as external lawyer in case he had not been appointed as national prosecutor.
“I have a link with the municipality for many years, a professional link that has been direct, a link that goes back to the period in which I worked as a lawyer working for a study that provided services for the municipality,” said the prosecutor. .
To this he added that his “link has always been with the institution. In the first period with the heads of the legal division of the municipality and already in the most recent time, a closer contact with them”.
Despite the fact that he has said it on several occasions, Valencia once once more insisted that he does not know Felipe Guevara. “During the period in which he was mayor of the municipality, I never had contact with him, I did not have any meeting with him (…) my relationship was mainly with the lawyers of the legal division”accurate.
“If there was ever a link between him, as a person, it was regarding the link that the municipality had with the office in which I worked, and a record was presented trying to appear that I knew him,” said the leader of the Public ministry.
national prosecutor
Senator Loreto Carvajal (PPD), who summoned him due to his relationship with the capital’s municipality for a 2008 cause, said that “the national prosecutor, who by the way did not have my vote of support, it is important that he be clarified.”
Meanwhile, Senator Rojo Edwards said that they have to give him an answer, especially to those who voted favorably for him, something that Senator Javier Macaya (UDI) also shares.
Now, the national prosecutor will travel to the region of La Araucanía for the public account and it is also expected that during the next week he will travel to the Arica Prosecutor’s Office.