Lo Barnechea Mayor Felipe Alessandri cleared six of the eight officials investigated for exceeding the legal spending limit on fixed-term staff, according to BioBioChile. Among them is lawyer Carlos Guazzini, now executive secretary of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Public Integrity and Transparency.
The outlet bases its report on information from La Tercera. The decree clearing the officials became public on September 11.
The administrative inquiry began shortly after Alessandri took office as mayor. On January 15, 2025, he emailed the Legal Department and the Internal Control Department to order the investigation. He asked them to establish who had approved the hiring and whether anyone had raised the alarm in time.
The investigation focused on the administration of Cristóbal Lira, his predecessor from 2019 to 2024. The years at issue were 2023 and 2024, the final stretch of that administration. According to the report, spending on fixed-term staff reached almost 56% in 2023 and exceeded 74% in 2024, against a legal limit of 40%.
As many as four investigators handled the proceedings. Public Security Director Pedro Guerra completed the inquiry. According to municipal sources, primary responsibility lies with Administration and Finance Director Omar Oyarzún and Human Resources Director Lía Riquelme. Oyarzún is suspected of having issued certificates placing spending below 40%.
Guazzini served as the municipality's director of oversight. He resigned to take up his government position in March. The investigator accused him of having "seriously breached" his duties by failing to object to the transfer of workers hired on a fee basis for community programs to fixed-term positions or to the legal limit being exceeded.
In March, Guerra concluded the inquiry and proposed penalties. For Guazzini, he recommended suspension from employment for 30 days with 60% of his pay and a negative entry in his personnel record. He was notified of the proposal at his new office in La Moneda.
The proceedings also drew criticism. Sources cited by La Tercera criticized Guerra for including so many officials in the inquiry, arguing that it should have focused on Oyarzún and a couple of other people. According to those sources, several of those accused had no direct responsibility for fixed-term hiring under their job descriptions.
All the officials under investigation filed appeals for reconsideration with Alessandri. At this stage, the mayor decides whether to uphold the penalty or clear the official. Several months later, he rejected the investigator's proposals for six of them.
In the decree, Alessandri maintained that, to hold the director of oversight responsible, "it must be established, in relation to a specific act," that he had sufficient information to identify the illegality, that he had a duty to act and that his failure to do so was culpable. He added that the seniority of the position raises the standard of care but does not remove the obligation to prove negligence or intent.
The source does not identify the two officials who were not cleared or specify what penalties they received. Nor does it include statements from Guazzini, Lira or the government. With his exoneration, Guazzini will have no negative entry in his personnel record as he continues to head the secretariat of the presidential integrity commission.
