“They transversally abuse direct dealings”

He executive director of América Transparente, Juan José Lyon analyzed the present in matters of transparency and corruption of mayors, exemplifying with two from the Metropolitan Region that are being questioned due to controversies linked to their mayors: that of Recoleta, with Daniel Jadue (PC); and that of Las Condes, with Daniela Peñaloza (UDI) at the head.

In relation to the case of the commune in the eastern sector, Lyon explained – in conversation with Al Pan Pan con Mirna Schindler– that for the construction of a Cesfam, that purchase should have been put out to tender. However, “it was decided to do so through direct treatment, which the Comptroller’s Office objected to, precisely through the Health Corporation.”

After explaining the case, he maintained that “today Las Condes, and unfortunately due to this act of corruption, the neighbors were left without a Cesfam, and we do not know today if the Cesfam will be able to be built. Because? Because before to make a Cesfam, what we needed was a rectangular piece of land, with a shape to be able to make a building. And in the end what we have is a piece of land divided in two.”

“In the end, I think it is the most serious thing, the Prosecutor’s Office requested the opening of the banking secrecy of a sitting mayor, which is something that we do not see every day, precisely because the merit of the investigation, of the information they have collected until Now, the credit would come from the bank accounts of the mayor and seven other officials involved in the purchase, most of whom are no longer in the municipality. It surprises me that the director of the corporation is still there after this case,” he added.

“What are the doubts that we also know so far? First, why is this purchasing mechanism chosen? Why, as the Comptroller’s Office said, was there not a public tender held, which is how they operate everywhere? Why choose through the corporation? There is no doubt that there is something strange here. Mayors are true princes who have very few checks and balances, who have enormous amounts of resources. In the case of Las Condes they are almost ten times Recoleta, four hundred billion pesos. In the case of Recoleta it is close to fifty billion pesos. “It is the budget that a mayor has to manage basically with total discretion,” he questioned.

“We are talking about how municipalities, unfortunately, serve to give many favors, to hire friends, as we have seen in all municipalities, because they have nothing to do with Recoleta or Las Condes. It is a transversal problem that also finds a way through corporations, associations, by bypassing the public procurement system. They also abuse, transversally, direct dealings. They are quotas of power that municipalities try to maintain. And when, especially in the case of Las Condes, when we have been in the same municipalities for decades, these practices tend to be more intensive,” he stressed.

“We are talking about the fact that they are boxes that serve as jobs, as favors, as quotas of power that, obviously, the political parties do not want to give up. And the truth is that I highly value the change of party, because unfortunately or fortunately, we only see that these cases of corruption, like the Vitacura case or the Maipú case, explode when a mayor of a different color arrives and decides to investigate the previous mayor. and cases begin to be opened. If the political party had not changed in Vitacura, perhaps there would not have been a complaint, I would not have known what is happening with the case of Raúl Torrealba. And that is why it is important that there is alternation in power. This also suggests why the clinging to power and whatever party does not want to let the municipalities lose, because they are quotas of power,” he concluded.