Andrade and Contreras will remain in preventive detention accused of treasury fraud

The main defendants in the Democracia Viva case had a very different fate than that of the former mayor of Vitacura, Raúl Torrealba (former RN militant), who is now under house arrest.

The Guarantee Court of Antofagasta kept Carlos Andrés Contreras Gutiérrez and Daniel Francisco Andrade Schwarze, charged by the Public Ministry as perpetrators of three crimes of tax fraud, subject to the precautionary measure of preventive detention. Illegal acts perpetrated during 2022, within the framework of agreements signed between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (Minvu) and the Democracia Viva foundation.

At the hearing to review the precautionary measure, Judge Andrés Santelices Jorquera rejected the defenses’ requests, considering that the freedom of the accused constitutes a danger to the security of society.

In ruling, the judge considered that the background that the Guarantee Court had in mind when dictating the deprivation of liberty of the accused, in the hearing to formalize the investigation, held on December 15, had not changed and that the Court of Antofagasta appeals confirmed seven days later.

According to the prosecuting entity, the defendants, “previously arranged and taking advantage of the fact that Carlos Contreras served as seremi of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning of Antofagasta, signed three agreements irregularly between the Minvu and the Democracia Viva foundation, legally represented by the co-defendant Daniel Andrade with “the objective of intervening in minor works in precarious settlements.”

The agreements were signed between October and December 2022 and involved the transfer of public funds for a total of $426,00,000,000.

It is worth mentioning that this week, from prison, Carlos Contreras accused Miguel Crispi, head of the “second floor” of La Moneda, of omitting information to President Gabriel Boric. On Monday, Crispi returned to La Moneda from his vacation and this Wednesday he is expected to testify as a defendant before prosecutor Cristián Aguilar. The statement of Giorgio Jackson and Javiera Martínez is also expected this week.