In an almost colloquial manner, and mixed with changes that have occurred in other regions, on Monday, July 1, the Ministry of the Interior reported that the regional Presidential delegate for Ñuble, Anwar Farrán Veloso (PL), had resigned from his position.
The local political world immediately responded with a shock. This was the third authority to leave office in less than three years, thus failing to allow the central level to take control of the second poorest region in the country.
Farrán himself claimed “political pressure” for his departure, but deep down, he always knew that he did not meet the legal requirement to assume the role of regional Presidential delegate (having two years of residence in the region prior to the appointment). His answer was always the same: “I was born in Chillán and I studied at the Narciso Tondreau high school.” And it was no different following leaving office.
“Since I took up this position, a group of parliamentarians and political operators from the area have persistently tried to deny my connection with the city and the region. Those who know me know that I was born here in the Herminda Martín hospital in Chillán, and that I also studied here at the Narciso Tondreau high school for men. But indeed, today I want the Regional Presidential Delegation of Ñuble to be able to continue with the government’s agenda, and I want to distance it from these criticisms, and that is why I am making this decision, a decision that of course is not at all easy,” she said through her social networks.
He added, “I want to say something: a minute of silence for the political operators and for those who have tried to harm me from the beginning. A minute of silence for those who believe that this will actually stop us,” he said.
Appointment
As soon as the name of journalist Anwar Farrán was announced as the new delegate of Ñuble, on December 1, his connection with the area was questioned across the board.
The commotion was such that opposition and centre-left deputies, such as Frank Sauerbaum and Felipe Camaño, asked the Interior Ministry to verify whether the new authority met the residency requirement. Furthermore, Sauerbaum made the respective inquiry to the regional Comptroller’s Office to find out if Farrán’s background had arrived for the approval of his position, which he had to begin exercising “for reasons of good service.” According to the RN deputy, there was no response.
At the time, the regional government spokesperson, Valentina Pradenas, was also asked whether the relevant documentation of the delegate had been sent to the Comptroller’s Office. She replied that yes, that “all the background information regarding the appointments of authorities goes through the Comptroller’s Office” and that “there were no objections in this regard.” She added that all this was being reviewed by the Interior Ministry.
The consultation with the Comptroller’s Office
One month before leaving office, former delegate Farrán made a query to the regional oversight body. The reason: to request a statement regarding his authorization to be the issuer of current accounts for the department.
The cold shower came on May 31, with the response from the regional Comptroller’s Office.
“It is not possible to access the requested information, since the records in the possession of this auditing entity do not contain any decree or resolution of appointment, approval, or in process, that links Mr. Farrán Veloso as an official of this public department, an essential and indispensable requirement for him to be able to request, on behalf of the aforementioned service, the opening and closing of subsidiary current accounts of the sole auditing office, as well as the authorization and revocation of public officials as issuers of these, in accordance with the provisions of article 54 of law number 10,336 on the Organization and Powers of the Comptroller General of the Republic, in addition to what is established in the administrative jurisprudence of this control body.”
That is to say, the Comptroller’s Office never acknowledged the appointment of Anwar Farrán, and during the seven months that he held the position, he did so, in the eyes of some, “in an irregular manner.”
Legal scenario
According to sources linked to administrative law consulted by LA DISCUSIÓN, the taking of account is the administrative act or the administrative procedure that must be carried out regarding a certain administrative matter, such as in this case, the appointment of the delegate. It is a mechanism through which the Comptroller’s Office verifies that the administrative act is in accordance with the law and is in accordance with the Constitution. Basically, it is a legality examination.
In the case of some of the appointments made by the President of the Republic – such as this one – the legality control is carried out later, for reasons of good service. This is not the case, for example, with positions such as notaries, who must wait for their appointment to be processed before exercising their duties.
According to the sources of administrative law consulted, there is clearly an irregularity, because this administrative act, which should have been reviewed, apparently did not take place.
What then happens with the decisions and actions taken by Anwar Farran during his administration? Can they be questioned? Are they valid?
In public administration, there is the principle of presumption of legality of administrative acts, which is clearly a presumption. In other words, everything he executed might be correct, because there is a principle of legality of administrative acts. But how far does this principle go? Until illegality is detected.
According to the principle of legality, one cannot exercise a function if one is not duly invested. Therefore, this leads to two things: one might be facing a crime, that is, when an official assumes a position that he does not have. This might be the object of a criminal action for usurpation of public office, something that someone has to declare. And for someone to declare it, there are two ways, the way of the Comptroller’s Office, to see if the acts that Farrán executed during the period in which he served are valid or not.
On the other hand, a civil action might be taken to recover the salaries received by the former authority, or a criminal action, because he would have assumed powers that he did not have.
In short, this omission, this irregularity, must clearly be analyzed by the competent bodies, which in this case should be the Comptroller’s Office.
Request for pronouncement
After learning of Anwar Farrán’s departure from his post, UDI deputies for Ñuble Marta Bravo and Cristóbal Martínez, sent a letter to the Comptroller’s Office to issue a statement regarding “the legality of the appointment decree and the resignation of the Regional Presidential Delegate of Ñuble, Anwar Farrán Veloso, indicating the validity of the acts signed by said authority during the period in which he performed his duties and the existence of possible violations of current regulations, in the terms required.”
According to the legislators, “last Monday, July 1, the Regional Presidential Delegate of Ñuble resigned from his position following seven months of management. Since he assumed that role – on December 1, 2023 – his appointment generated certain doubts regarding whether or not he met the requirement of having resided for at least two years in the region, in accordance with the provisions of article 124 of the Political Constitution. For this reason, the Chamber of Deputies, through official letters, requested the Comptroller’s Office to make a pronouncement on the legality of the respective appointment decree to determine whether or not it complied with the law, given that there were records that the authority would reside outside the aforementioned region.”
They then added in the letter sent to the oversight body, “The Comptroller’s Office sent its response on March 15, 2024, through an official letter, which states that “the administrative act in question has not yet been entered into this oversight institution, for its pertinent preventive control of legality. Under such conditions, this Comptroller’s Office must refrain, for now, from issuing the required pronouncement, without prejudice to which, the observations formulated by the indicated parliamentarians will be considered at the time of carrying out the aforementioned legality control of the aforementioned act, which must be sent to this headquarters as soon as possible.”
From ‘victim’ to ‘victimizer’
Meanwhile, RN deputy Frank Sauerbaum said that the last time he consulted the Comptroller General’s Office on the matter in question, “they told me that they never received the appointment document. In other words, this is an error by the Ministry of the Interior, by the undersecretary. The error does not even come from the delegate himself, but from the person who appointed him, because they never sent them his appointment, and that is why they had no proof, because they knew that he did not meet the requirements when he was appointed, and therefore, in order not to risk the Comptroller General’s Office rejecting him, it was simply not sent, and finally, when they determined that he might no longer meet the requirements, he had to go, they removed him in such an abrupt manner,” he said.
The legislator emphasized that “I believe that more than his mistake, it was a mistake by the Ministry of the Interior. Now, in fact, there are some complex situations here, such as the appointments he might have made, or the resources he received as salaries, or also the decisions he made. But the most tragic thing regarding all this, from my point of view, is the lack of seriousness with which the region has been treated, having so many difficulties, so many problems, and as the most dramatic example, were the emergencies we faced, when there was not even the signature of the Presidential delegate to be able to request the resources that were required. So, we reached a level of very evident abandonment. Today the regional ministers function on autopilot, because they have no one to lead them,” he argued.
Sauerbaum said that in the next few days he will make the pertinent inquiries to the Comptroller General’s Office “regarding the origin of the decision made by the Ministry of the Interior to remove him, what the consequences of this are, and obviously that the sanctions that must be applied to those who made this decision be applied. I believe that more than him -Anwar Farrán- being a victimizer, he is a victim of the government’s negligence. I believe that he, in good faith, assumed a position that was asked of him, and in the end, he was a victim of an undersecretary like Monsalve (Manuel), who made erroneous, mistaken decisions, and of the current group that advises him as well,” he said.
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