“Here there were some who seem to have been more interested in money than in public office and being public servants,” charged the mayor of Talcahuano, Henry Campos (UDI), regarding the two frauds being investigated in the Administration Department of Health (DAS) of the municipality, and that, in total, has under the focus of justice five former officials and four civilians. The details of the investigation were revealed exclusively by the BioBioChile Investigation Unit and in response, the community chief referred to the facts in an interview with Expreso Bío Bío.
The Mayor of Talcahuano, Henry Campos (UDI)referred to the frauds that are investigated in the Department of Health Administration (DAS), whose details were revealed exclusively by the BioBioChile Research Unit.
Specifically, there are two embezzlements that are investigated in the distribution, which were revealed through irregularities detected by the Comptroller.
The first edge dates between October 2017 and March 2019, while the second occurred between February 2018 and May 2019.
In this way, there are five former Department officials and four civilians who are under the spotlight of justice for fraud totaling more than $600 million.
“We were the first to denounce and sue”
For his part, the mayor of Talcahuano, in an interview with Bio Bio Expresspointed out that when they took office in 2016 they noticed certain irregularities in the building, which led to the initiation of an administrative investigation, for what would later be known as the “Checks” edge in the DAS fraud.
“That summary was taken by the Comptroller and some facts are noted that are not only administrative faults, but are acts constituting a crime against Municipal Health Finance personnel,” he explained, assuring that they were “the first to denounce and sue us ”.
In said investigation, they accuse three former officials of the Finance Unit and a civilian, the partner of one of the workers, of illegally collecting money intended for suppliers of the municipality.
Along this edge “Checks”, three former DAS officials await trial in pretrial detentionwhile the civilian will do it from his home, where he is under total house arrest.
“Whoever commits irregularities has to pay for those irregularities”
The communal authority expressed its rejection of the facts, emphasizing that “being a public official does not necessarily mean being a public servant (…) We are in the presence of people who, by observance, action or omission, took money for the house or allowed others to do so”.
Along these lines, he stated that “whoever commits irregularities has to pay for those irregularities.”
On the second edge, the Prosecutor’s Office investigates direct deals made between the municipality and companies to carry out services or works, which, although they were paid for with public money, according to the prosecutor, were never carried out.
Consulted by the responsibility in the control of these illicit, Campos insisted that upon taking office they noticed certain irregularities, which led to carrying out the pertinent summaries.
“It seems that the money caught their attention more”
“Here the public faith was defrauded (…) Here the control mechanisms worked, because if we had not started the administrative processes, if the Control Directorate had not filed reports at the time, perhaps these officials would have continued to commit the same irregularities for much longer, “he said. .
Regarding the investment in reopening of a cabareta fact that is attributed to the former director of Finance of the DAS, Campos indicated: “I am very sorry that these resources have ended up subtracted and extracted from the public function.”
“These public funds should be in the municipal coffers to buy medicines, to improve the infrastructure of the Cesfam. But unfortunately here there were some who seem to have been more interested in money than in public office and being public servants”ended.