Cathy Barriga, the former model and television figure who between 2016 and 2021 served as mayor of Maipú, the second most populated municipality in Chile, learned her judicial fate after being formalized for the repeated crimes of falsification of public instruments and fraud against the Treasury.
After three long days of hearing, the Ninth Guarantee Court of Santiago decided to apply the precautionary measure of total house arrest, thus avoiding preventive detention.
The decision was made by Judge Hugo Salgado, who considered the entry into prison of the former authority, which had been requested by the Prosecutor's Office, to be inadmissible.
The precautionary measure was also ruled out for former municipal official Ana María Cortés, who was subject to nighttime house arrest.
During his presentation, the magistrate warned that there was sufficient background information regarding Barriga's knowledge of the irregularities that led to a fraud estimated at 31,000 million pesos, about 35 million dollars.
amount that he considered “exorbitant” and that had to be specified by the Public Ministry.
“The same background indicates that Mrs. Cathy knew, or she could not help but know, of all these irregularities, of all these attempts to hide the deficit.”
However, Judge Salgado considered that the former mayor had irreproachable previous conduct and that despite the seriousness of the crimes charged, her freedom did not imply a danger to society.
“It is not enough that it is a serious crime or several to consider it a danger to society.
Is there a danger to society that she could commit new crimes?
I don't think it can be presumed just because it is formalized.
It does not apply for this argument.
Ms. Cathy has no previous criminal record and no records have been provided that could prove serious that she is going to commit crimes while she is there,” he said.
At the end, the magistrate detailed that Cathy Barriga would be under total house arrest and with a restraining order for witnesses and victims of the legal case.
The precautionary measure may be reviewed or reversed by the Court of Appeals of Santiago, in an action that has already been confirmed by the Prosecutor's Office.
In addition, the court determined that the investigation will last 120 days.
A couple of hours before entering the last hearing that defined the precautionary measures, the former mayor had argued about the media coverage that her case has had.
“During these days the information from the complaining party has been transmitted, it does not mean that what they say is real.
But my defense was not transmitted, it is unfortunate.
As the media, they have followed me and accompanied me these days,” she expressed to the
Chilevisión television program
Contigo en la Mañana .
The three days of formalization
Former mayor Cathy Barriga faced extensive formalization hearings for three days, where the prosecutor of Alta Complejidad Oriente, Constanza Encina, presented all the evidence collected against her.
“We are facing one of the largest frauds that has been known in the municipal history of our country,” said the prosecutor.
In detail, the prosecutor said that the amount defrauded in the municipality of Maipú was 55 times larger than that of Democracia Viva, the primary foundation of the
Covenants case
plot ;
28 times the money involved in the case of the municipality of Vitacura;
20 of the case of the municipality of Algarrobo;
and 914 times the amount defrauded by the former mayor of the city of Antofagasta, Karen Rojo, who is currently detained in the Netherlands after escaping the country.
Other data shown by the complainant consisted of the million-dollar purchases of
Swarovski
crystals —which were intended as gifts to politicians and other public figures—;
for the painting of a gold institutional car;
and the organization of
Maipeluza
[a reference to
Lollapalooza
], an artistic festival that was held during the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, for which a total of 2,094 million pesos (a little more than 2 million dollars) was spent.
The Public Ministry also exposed some audios of the maneuvers to avoid mentioning the deficit within the municipality, regarding the negative balances found in the accounts.
A record was also included featuring Camila Cornejo, who was Barriga's communications chief in Maipú, where she asked officials to start a massive creation of anonymous accounts on the social network (communist) and Abraham Donoso (ex-Christian Democrat).
The case began in 2021. That year, Tomás Vodanovic, the mayor who took the position from Barriga, a member of the Democratic Revolution, a party of the Frente Amplio (the coalition of left-wing president Gabriel Boric), after an internal audit, filed a complaint in his against for fraud against the Treasury for the damage of more than 21,000 million pesos (about 24 million dollars).
And, in August 2022, the Comptroller's Office issued a report in which it estimated the deficit at 31,000 million pesos.
The former mayor began her media career during the 1990s, appearing as a model and dancer on the television shows
Maldita sea
(where she was known for the character Robotina) and
Mekano
.
In the following decade she entered a
reality show
and a dance competition space.
She entered politics thanks to the influence of her husband, UDI deputy Joaquín Lavín León, who is the son of former presidential candidate Joaquín Lavín, one of the key figures of the Chilean right in the last 30 years.
The legislator was also mentioned in the formalization due to his eventual impact on the decisions made within the municipality.
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