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Original article: Campaña presidencial de Lavín Infante entra en la causa contra su hijo: asesores pagados por el Congreso habrían trabajado en su sede

Lavín Infante’s Presidential Campaign Linked to Scandal Involving His Son: Allegations of Congressional Resources Misuse by Advisers

The formal charges against former deputy Joaquín Lavín León for tax fraud, influence peddling, and forgery of a private commercial document have brought to light new evidence suggesting his parliamentary advisers, funded by Congress, may have worked at the campaign headquarters of his father, Joaquín Lavín Infante, during the 2021 presidential elections.

During the hearing held on Monday, presided over by Judge Daniel Urrutia, prosecutor Constanza Encina revealed that the former UDI member allegedly implemented a repeated and systematic method to divert resources, involving the issuance of ideologically false invoices for campaign expenses, the development of a software financed with legislative funds, and alleged acts of corruption in the Municipality of Maipú, while his wife Cathy Barriga served as mayor.

Additionally, Encina detailed a scheme of public resource diversion for electoral purposes that would directly implicate the former mayor of Las Condes and presidential candidate, Joaquín Lavín Infante. According to the investigation, while Lavín León served as a deputy, he directed at least seven members of his parliamentary team—paid with congressional funds—to engage in campaign activities for his father’s bid for La Moneda in 2021.

Encina noted that these advisers not only made phone calls and conducted voter outreach during working hours but also physically performed their duties at Lavín Infante’s campaign headquarters, located at Avenida Apoquindo 3001, in the Las Condes district, which is currently being investigated for potential fiscal resource misappropriation, as reported by La Tercera.

The names mentioned by prosecutor Encina include Shigue Ogino, who earned a monthly salary of $2,591,400 as a public official while working in the campaign offices of the accused’s father between January and May 2021. Also named were Romina Molina and Carlos Vargas, the latter of whom was specifically sent to perform tasks at the headquarters operating as the command center for Lavín Infante’s unsuccessful presidential candidacy (UDI), ultimately losing to Sebastián Sichel in the Chile Vamos primaries.

To manage voter databases, the former deputy, whose congressional immunity was upheld by the Supreme Court last February, allegedly financed, through expenses submitted to Congress, the SocialTazk digital platform used to collect citizens’ information for political purposes. Prosecutors claim this tool may have also been offered to other candidates within the same political sector, potentially indicating an illegal campaign financing scheme.

The hearing also touched upon the hiring of alleged “ghost employees,” who had not carried out the functions for which they were paid by Congress, as well as a possible influence peddling crime, given that the former parliamentarian allegedly intervened in decisions within the Municipality of Maipú, promoting hirings and firings while his wife Cathy Barriga served as mayor.

Prosecutors Do Not Rule Out Investigating Joaquín Lavín Infante

At the conclusion of the charges, the Public Ministry requested preventive detention for Joaquín Lavín León, who is accused of defrauding the Treasury of over 104 million pesos. This request was supported by the State Defense Council (CDE) and the Municipality of Maipú, represented by BACS Lawyers.

The director of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Prosecutor’s Office, Eugenio Campos, did not dismiss the possibility that the investigation against the former deputy might expand to include aspects related to his father’s presidential campaign.

“There is nothing preventing tomorrow (today), through the development of investigations, or refining that idea in regard to actions that will allow me some objectivity with regard to imputing another crime, there is no doubt that the Public Ministry will have to do what is necessary,” he stated in an interview with Radio Infinita.

Campos also left the possibility open to extend the measures toward Joaquín Lavín Infante and made it clear that “if the merits of the evidence so advise, there is no doubt we have an obligation to conduct that legal investigation.

“The Public Ministry should not shy away; quite the opposite, it has a legal duty to investigate him,” he stated in remarks reported by Chilevisión.

La entrada Lavín Infante’s Presidential Campaign Linked to Scandal Involving His Son: Allegations of Congressional Resources Misuse by Advisers se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.