Cristóbal Acevedo, coordinator of the electoral campaign of the presidential candidate of the Chilean ruling party, Sebastián Sichel, resigned in his charge after the broadcast of a television report that implicates both in a case of alleged irregular financing that would have taken place in 2009. According to the investigation, broadcast on Tuesday by the channels Chilevisión and CNN Chile, Sichel financed part of his first deputy campaign in 2009 with contributions from fishing companies, constituting the majority of those funds irregular tax documents for alleged services.
In his defense, Acevedo indicated that “It is evident that this action seeks to affect the candidacy of Sebastián Sichel”, which is why he decided to step aside in the current presidential campaign as coordinator. What’s more warned that will take “civil and criminal judicial actions against those who are responsible”. For his part Sichel, who has been falling in the polls ahead of the November elections, denounced an “orchestrated political operation” against him and assured that he “had no knowledge” of the contributions denounced.
According to the report headed by journalist Daniel Matamala, during Sichel’s campaign for deputy in 2009, when he was still part of the Christian Democrats, they entered a series of contributions, including seven from fishing companies that were issued for a total of more than 19 million Chilean pesos against receipts of fees. The journalistic investigation qualifies this procedure as “irregular”, since it allowed the possibility of delivering money outside the limits set by the Chilean Electoral Service (Servel) and also “deduct taxes.”
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