Reginato’s Legacy of Controversy Continues: Prosecutors Drop Seven Cases but Keep Three Investigations Active in Viña del Mar

Original article: La herencia de Reginato no se cierra del todo: Fiscalía baja siete causas, pero mantiene tres flancos abiertos en Viña Reginato’s Legacy of Controversy Continues: Prosecutors Drop Seven Cases but Keep Three Investigations Active in Viña del Mar The legacy of irregularities left by Virginia Reginato during her lengthy tenure at the municipality of Viña del Mar remains unresolved, as the prosecutor’s office closed seven out of ten investigations after years of inquiries, accounting reviews, and postponed hearings, while choosing to keep three avenues open concerning the former mayor. According to El Mostrador, the closure of these cases is based on insufficient evidence to support criminal charges, while the three remaining investigations focus on those closest to the former municipal leader, preventing a conclusive end to the most scrutinized period in the city’s history. Reginato (formerly of UDI) governed Viña del Mar from 2004 to 2021, leading an extensive administration that concluded with her removal by Tricel for notable dereliction of duty.

The court ruling found her responsible for leaving the municipality with a financial deficit, which, according to Contraloría’s report 577, reached 17 billion pesos in 2017. Despite being elected as a councilor at the end of her term, she was unable to take office due to this sanction. As revealed by the cited media, among the dismissed cases were those that once triggered political and media alarms.

Cases known as Casa del Deporte, Casino, Cementerio Municipal, Casa de la Cultura, and Fundo Casablanca are now closed without the possibility of going to trial. Investigations into the municipal budget deficit and the so-called “Extra Hours 2” have also been archived. Last July, the prosecutor’s office had ten ongoing investigations, but Viña del Mar prosecutor Cristián Andrade noted that after all the actions taken, it was not possible to gather solid evidence for formal charges.

In some of these lines of inquiry, even the existence of crimes was dismissed, thus expediting the closures. Andrade himself detailed the procedures applied in each case. “Investigation files regarding issues that were not judicialized were provisionally archived,” he explained to Aquí Valparaíso.

For the cases that had already entered judicial proceedings, the prosecutor’s office communicated its decision not to pursue during hearings specifically convened for that purpose. However, this decision does not imply a definitive declaration of innocence, as the Public Ministry could reactivate or reopen investigations if new evidence arises. Three Open Cases Against Reginato’s Administration Yet, not everything is left in the past.

According to El Mostrador, three cases remain open, though two of them were merged into a single investigation on April 29. These involve the cases of “Reserved Expenses” and “Settlements”, which are now proceeding together against former municipal administrator Claudio Boisier, considered Reginato’s right-hand man. In the first case, he is being investigated for allegedly authorizing his own reimbursements for large purchases of jewelry, liquor, and meals.

The second case arose from a complaint lodged in 2022 by the current mayor Macarena Ripamonti, who accused the disbursement of substantial settlements to three former officials of the Municipal Corporation, including Boisier himself. The prosecutor’s office plans to formally charge Boisier on June 9 before the Viña del Mar Guarantee Court, accusing him of embezzlement of public funds and fiscal fraud. URAC prosecutor Marcia Rivas specified that charges would not be filed against the other two individuals mentioned in the original complaint.

The third open investigation pertains to the case “Football Schools”, initiated in 2019 against former viña del Mar councilor Gabriel “Coca” Mendoza for fiscal fraud, due to failing to account for sports workshops funded by the municipality. Subsequently, the complaint was expanded to include Reginato and “whoever is found responsible” for perjury, forgery of public documents, and simulated contracts. As these processes continue, the only definitive conviction resulting from the series of investigations relates to the “Extra Hours 1” case, where it was possible to convict Pablo Staig, former municipal administrator, and Manuel Echeverría, former finance director, to 541 days of prison under supervised freedom for repeated fiscal fraud.