Judge Lilian Sáez of Santiago's Third Guarantee Court on Thursday rejected former Recoleta mayor Daniel Jadue's request to travel to São Paulo, Brazil. The judge found that he posed a flight risk.
According to T13, which reproduced an Ex-Ante article, Jadue requested permission to leave the country between October 20 and 24 to accompany his Brazilian wife for medical treatment scheduled for October 21 in that city.
To allow the trip, the defense requested the suspension between October 21 and 23 of the precautionary measures currently imposed on the former mayor: a ban on leaving Chile and nighttime house arrest.
"This judge considers that, if departure from the country were authorized, there would indeed be a flight risk," Sáez stated in her ruling. She argued that the defendant "faces a custodial sentence with extremely lengthy prison terms", meaning a sentence that would have to be served in prison.
The judge clarified that the court does not prohibit the medical treatment, which she believes can take place in Chile or another country. She also questioned the defense's submission of a document in another language without a translation.
Jadue, 59, is charged in the case involving the Chilean Association of Municipalities with People's Pharmacies (Achifarp), an organization he chaired between 2017 and 2022 that was created to offer low-cost medicines in member municipalities.
The North Central Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office accuses him of repeated fraud against the state, fraud, bribery and an insolvency offense. For those offenses, it is seeking prison terms of 12 years, three years, 820 days and 541 days, respectively, totaling nearly 18 years in prison.
According to the indictment cited by T13, Jadue and his former right-hand man José Matías Muñoz caused "losses of at least $5,800,000" to Achifarp. The former mayor and former Communist Party presidential candidate has maintained his innocence.
The former mayor spent 91 days in pretrial detention at the Capitán Yáber annex. On September 2, 2024, he was placed under full house arrest, and on February 27 of this year he moved to the current precautionary measures. Before he was formally charged in 2024, he attempted to travel to Venezuela, and the Prosecutor's Office warned his lawyer that it would seek a precautionary measure if he insisted.
The case is at the indictment stage. The trial preparation hearing, at which the guarantee court reviews the evidence each party will present at trial, is scheduled for October 29, 2026.
