CDE Files Criminal Complaint Against Former UDI Director of Serviu in Valparaíso in ProCultura Case

Original article: Caso Convenios: CDE presenta querella criminal contra exdirector (UDI) del Serviu en Valparaíso en arista «ProCultura»

A report by Pura Noticia has revealed that the Council of Defense of the State (CDE) has filed a criminal complaint against Tomás Ochoa, the former director of Serviu in Valparaíso, who is associated with the UDI party.

The complaint, which has been accepted by the court, also implicates María Constanza Gómez, Alberto Larraín, and Gonzalo Chacón for their roles in committing fraud against the Treasury in relation to the ProCultura Foundation as part of the so-called «Convenios Case».

According to the publication, the origins of this case trace back to 2021 and involve a project under the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism’s Program for Precarious Settlements (PAP), aimed at enhancing the living conditions of families living in camps.

In this context, an agreement was proposed to finance the design, engineering, and expropriation procedures for camps in Lomas de Bellavista, Manzana 33, and Las Viñas de Irene Frei in Villa Alemana. This agreement was signed with ProCultura, an organization that reportedly lacked the necessary skills to execute the assigned projects, something that Ochoa was allegedly aware of.

On February 21, 2022, Ochoa requested the transfer of funds to ProCultura amounting to $93,979,116 for the Lomas de Bellavista camp; $82,791,126 for Manzana 33; and $71,603,136 for Las Viñas de Irene Frei. These funds were approved on June 6, 2022, as noted by Pura Noticia.

Later, during Gabriel Boric’s administration, ProCultura was forced to sign a contract with a company to carry out one of the projects, which turned out to be owned by Ochoa himself, who established it in 2023 after leaving his position at Serviu.

The CDE emphasizes in its complaint that Ochoa played a crucial role as Director of Serviu Valparaíso in the formulation of the agreement, participating in preparatory meetings and requesting resource allocations, enabling the agreement with ProCultura, which lacked the technical capability to fulfill the contract obligations—something Ochoa should have known.

The complaint asserts that all actions were executed by Ochoa in violation of the responsibilities of a public servant, specifically contradicting principles of efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity.

Read the full report HERE

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