The legal landscape is becoming increasingly complicated for former Maipú Mayor Cathy Barriga as she faces an investigation for the misappropriation of public funds in her municipality.
The General Comptroller of the Republic (CGR) established through an accounting analysis commissioned by the Prosecutor’s Office that Barriga reported to the Electoral Service (Servel) $10 million for social media advertising services for her 2021 re-election campaign, which she never paid to the supplier company, Modo74 SpA. Instead, the agency found that the publicly reimbursed amount was directly transferred to her spouse, Congressman Joaquín Lavín León.
This report is critical to the investigation by the Public Ministry, which accuses Lavín of being the shadow owner of Modo74, an electoral messaging platform that has become his primary supplier in Congress. As revealed by CIPER, the findings will be reviewed on Thursday by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which will consider the request for immunity withdrawal against the legislator for the crime of fraud against the treasury.
The Prosecutor’s Office asserts that Lavín secretly owns this company, which has been his main service provider in the Chamber of Deputies. In this context, they requested the Comptroller’s Office to analyze Modo74’s invoicing and the bank movements of Joaquín Lavín and Cathy Barriga. The focus is on the expense reports both presented to Servel during their re-election campaigns in 2021.
According to official documents, Lavín reported three invoices from Modo74 totaling $15 million for his congressional campaign, while Barriga submitted a single invoice from the same company for $10 million for her re-election bid as mayor of Maipú. During the reporting process, the legislator claimed to have paid for the services in cash, whereas the former mayor used a credit card.
Barriga Case: Reimbursement and Transfer to Lavín
Regarding Barriga, the Comptroller’s Office, after reviewing relevant bank records, confirmed that, during 2021, «no transfers were made by the former mayor to Modo74 or to its owner,» Felipe Vázquez, who also served as Lavín’s parliamentary advisor, the cited digital media reported.
Servel, after approving the electoral expense report, reimbursed the then-mayor a total of $63 million into her Banco Estado account associated with her candidacy. However, instead of allocating part of those funds to settle the debt with Modo74, the Comptroller detected that Barriga transferred a sum of $61,085,000 from that same electoral account to Joaquín Lavín.
The CGR’s report determined that «the congressman did not make any monetary transfers to Modo74 or Felipe Vázquez for the amount of $10 million, either in total or in installments.» It concludes emphatically: «This clearly shows that the invoice was reported to Servel by Cathy Barriga Guerra, but it was not paid by the former mayor to Modo74.»
Contradictory Statements by Lavín
Regarding Lavín’s expense reports, the Comptroller’s Office found a similar situation, although with a partial payment. Of the total $15 million invoiced by Modo74 and reported as electoral expenses, the congressman transferred directly to the company only $3 million, leaving a balance of $12 million unpaid.
The auditing investigation dismissed Lavín’s claim that he made a cash payment reported to Servel. The report details that «the bank accounts of Modo74 and Felipe Vásquez were reviewed, and no cash deposits related to this cash payment were detected.»
This finding directly contradicts Joaquín Lavín’s own statements to the prosecutor’s office on April 24, 2025. On that occasion, the congressman stated that all services had been paid.
“Yes, they were paid by Servel as part of the campaign. I paid the company for everything. I have paid the company. The $10 million invoice reported during the mayoral campaign and the $12 million that were reported in my campaign,” he asserted in his declaration cited by CIPER.
In response to media inquiries about these details, Joaquín Lavín’s defense attorney, Cristóbal Bonacic, limited his response by stating that «he will not comment on the matter.»
The findings from the Comptroller’s audit become a fundamental pillar for the Prosecutor’s Office, which seeks to have the Santiago Court of Appeals approve the withdrawal of Lavín’s parliamentary immunity. The investigation now extends beyond his possible concealed ownership of Modo74 and the use of parliamentary allowances, widening to a suspected irregular handling of public funds intended for reimbursing electoral expenses, where, according to the CGR, the trail of money did not end with the supplier company but instead in the pockets of the congressman himself.
Original article: Contraloría: Cathy Barriga rindió $10 millones al Servel, no pagó a proveedor y transfirió fondos a Lavín
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