The Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office are investigating a complaint for alleged conflict of interest, in the hiring of a company to build temporary camps in the commune of Bulnes.
The background of the case was exposed in a Bío Bío radio report, which alludes to an agreement for 65 million pesos – which finally reached 100 million – between the Seremi of Housing and Urban Planning of Ñuble and the Municipality of Bulnes for the construction of transitional camps in 2021. The agreement, according to the journalistic investigation, was signed by Carolina Mendoza, then deputy mayor, who maintained a relationship with the person in charge of Precarious Settlements of the Housing and Urbanization Service, Antonio Marchant (PC), current Ñuble Housing Seremi. Although the amounts reached the municipality and a bid was called, the company Inversiones IGPA SPA – which won the project – abandoned construction. This is how the construction of the neighborhoods in the “El Esfuerzo” settlement came into the hands of the EnRed Social Foundation, which received $48 million in addition to those already invested by IGPA. Today, the Local Prosecutor’s Office of Chillán is carrying out an investigation once morest the organization within the framework of the foundations case.
Seremi’s response
La Discusión contacted the current Seremi of Housing, Antonio Marchant (PC), to find out his reaction regarding the complaint and investigation.
“First of all, regarding the award to the company IGPA SPA, it was part of a bidding process carried out by the Municipality and in which I had no intervention. As for the Enred Foundation, it participated in an intervention in the El Esfuerzo camp, which included improving the housing condition of the 11 families registered in said settlement and the construction of a Transitory Neighborhood, which was part of the initiative implemented in 2021. , ‘100+100 Challenge’. Regarding a possible conflict of interest, I can point out that this is not effective, since, as I have already pointed out, the one who adjudicates is the Municipality of Bulnes, a process in which I had no interference.”
Relationship with former head of Dideco
According to Radio Bío Bío, following leaving Dideco, Carolina Mendoza was one of the 96 people that the ministry hired in the first quarter of 2022. On that date, Mendoza began working as an Analyst for the Precarious Settlements Unit of the Serviu de the Ñuble region.
– Do you still claim to have any relationship with Carolina Mendoza (former deputy mayor and former head Dideco de Bulnes), with whom you gave the green light (together with the former seremi Urrestarazu) to validate the agreement between the municipality and the seremia in May 2021?
– Firstly, it is not true that the decision to sign the agreement between the Seremía and the Municipality of Bulnes was taken jointly by Mrs. Carolina Mendoza and I, this corresponded to the authorities of the time, among which I was not . Now, as for the link with Ms. Mendoza, it is true that we know each other, prior to her joining she was a Serviu official, an entity in which I worked.
Text: Luciano Gallardo
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