Well-known names with a controversial record are on the list of candidates seeking a seat in Congress in the November parliamentary elections. One of them is that of former deputy Orlando Vargas Pizarro (ex-PPD), who now seeks again to represent District 1 of Arica and Parinacota, this time as an independent.
Vargas – a deputy for the area between 2010 and 2014 – tried to approach the PPD and the Frente Amplio, specifically the Comunes party, to try to compete with the forward of Approve Dignity. His name, however, was rejected by the PPD and did not generate total consensus within the FA Electoral Table, since he had “huge yayitas”, sources confided to The counter.
What are these “yayas”? The politician is known in the area for being involved in the most noisy corruption case in recent decades in the XV Region.
The story is as follows: the mayor of Arica at the time, Waldo Sankán (also ex-PPD) and 6 councilors were arrested by the Investigative Police (PDI) when they raided the town hall, as part of the investigation for the crime frustrated with tax fraud, in the case of the company in charge of the municipal landfill.
During the investigation that kept the former mayor Sankán in jail, his main political ally, Orlando Vargas, was involved in one of the many edges of the investigation, after a telephone wiretap by the Prosecutor’s Office was revealed, where the former deputy requires him to a payment to businessman Jorge Frías, the main corruptor in the case.
Vargas, who was sentenced in the first instance to 818 days in jail as the perpetrator of the frustrated crime of fraud against the Municipality of Arica, in addition to a 3-year suspension to access public office, and a fine of $ 65,759,400 , which represents only 10% of the damage caused, managed to escape after the courts considered that the Prosecutor’s Office failed to fully verify the crimes.
Consulted by The counter, Vargas Pizarro confirmed that he will go as a candidate: “I cannot miss the opportunity to represent my countrymen, with the 18 thousand votes that I got (in the election of regional governors). We have a good chance of winning a quota of the three that exist. in the region”.
Vargas was third in the last election of regional governors, since he obtained 17,836 votes, equivalent to 26.75%, very close to the second, Jorge Díaz, who obtained 18,379 votes (27.41%) and finally won the ballot .
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