After the Comptroller General of the Republic objected to the purchase of the former Sierra Bella Clinic by the Municipality of Santiago, a group of deputies of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), led by Juan Antonio Coloma, urged the councilors of the commune to denounce the mayor, Irací Hassler (PC), for “notable” dereliction of duties.
To this is added a complaint filed by deputies Juan Irarrázaval and Johannes Kaiser, who requested the formalization of the mayor for fraud to the treasury, in relation to the canceled acquisition of the old hospital campus. The Comptroller’s Office determined that the value to be paid was not justified, since the tax appraisal of the property was four times lower than the price for which it was intended to buy.
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Boris Barrera, deputy of the PC, was one of the voices that came out in defense of the communal authority: “the right has wanted to tie with our mayor because they have innumerable cases of corruption, such as the mayor who took the money to hide on the walls of his house, another mayor of Antofagasta who is a fugitive, another questioned in Viña del Mar, Maipú, there is an immense list of corrupt mayors belonging to the right-wing sector.”
Meanwhile, Coloma issued a statement that was later joined by the parliamentarians of his party, Marta Bravo and Daniel Lilayu, in which they affirm that “all the necessary causes are configured so that the councilors of Santiago dare to denounce Mayor Hassler for notable dereliction of duties.”
In a similar vein, UDI parliamentarian Jorge Alessandri commented that “the Comptroller General of the Republic clarified what many of us already knew: that there was an impressive overprice.”
“The municipality of Santiago was squandering public resources under the pretext of improving health. Now the other strand is missing: what were the silvers for? What was intended to be financed in an obscure way? Where was the business going? Who was the one who sold and had a relationship with the municipality?” said Alessandri.
On the other hand, the parliamentarians of the Republican Party affirm in the complaint that “the distinctive thing about this crime consists in the relative position of the respective official who, by reason of his position, intervenes in a certain operation of patrimonial significance for the State or another public entity, in the framework of which the fraud must take place, with prejudice to the respective public patrimony”.
Added to that, Irarrázaval said that “Hassler is a danger to the financial stability of Santiago and we hope that justice will be ruthless with her and with all the officials who participated in this illegal business,” so they will continue the legal process in search of a conviction for Hassler.
The Communist Party came out to defend the mayor, declaring that “the interest of the right is not transparency, its interest is to seek a false ‘tie’ regarding multiple cases of corruption where its militants are involved” through a statement.
In the same letter, the PC said that “we express our recognition and support to comrade Irací Hassler, who will continue to make every effort to respond to the requirements and social emergencies of the residents of Santiago.”
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