The mayor of Ñuñoa, Sebastián Sichel, decided to sanction the director of Secpla, Jaime Tohá, with a 30-day suspension after reviewing the records of the administrative investigation and the fiscal review submitted by the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The decision departs from the sanction originally proposed by the oversight body, which last September — through a confidential 20-page report — suggested that the Municipality of Ñuñoa dismiss the official over a workplace harassment complaint.
In this regard, Sichel pointed out that he detected "manifest errors" in the fiscal review and questioned the way some elements of the investigation were gathered and weighed.
"There were manifest errors in the Comptroller's fiscal review, which confused the reported facts. In some parts it spoke of two types of harassment, sexual and workplace, when it was evidently only a workplace matter," he explained.
Along these lines, the mayor added that he also observed differences in the way testimonies were received during the proceedings.
"In some cases, the witnesses of one party had been interviewed remotely, and in others they had been interviewed in person," he said.
Another element considered by the authority was the nature of the testimonies included in the case file. In that sense, he indicated that part of them consisted of statements from people who had not directly witnessed the …
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NationalThe mayor questioned the report issued by the Comptroller's Office, stating that he detected "manifest errors," as well as differences in the way testimonies were received. The mayor of Ñuñoa, Sebastián Sichel.
Javier Salvo/Aton Chile. JAVIER SALVO/ATON CHILE CommentsThe mayor of Ñuñoa, Sebastián Sichel, decided to sanction the Secpla director, Jaime Tohá, with a 30-day suspension after reviewing the records of the administrative summary and the fiscal review submitted by the Comptroller General of the Republic. The decision departs from the sanction originally proposed by the oversight body, which last September — through a confidential 20-page report — suggested that the Municipality of Ñuñoa dismiss the official over a workplace harassment complaint. Regarding this, Sichel pointed out that he detected "manifest errors" in the fiscal review and questioned the way some elements of the investigation were gathered and weighed. "There were manifest errors in the Comptroller's fiscal review, which confused the reported facts. In some parts it spoke of two types of harassment, sexual and workplace, when it was evidently only a workplace matter," he explained. Along these lines, the mayor added that he also observed differences in the way testimonies were received during the procedure. "In some cases the witnesses of one party had been interviewed remotely, and in others they had been interviewed in person," he stated. Another element considered by the authority was the nature of the testimonies included in the file. In that regard, he indicated that some of them consisted of statements from people who had not directly witnessed the events. To these records he added Tohá's prior conduct as an official. In this way, the mayor resolved to impose a 30-day suspension, a measure he described as "one of the harshest sanctions in the system." Likewise, the municipal authority stated that his decision does not disregard the investigated records, but rather responds to an assessment of the file as a whole. "Reason will be taken based on these three things: errors in the fiscal review, an indeed irreproachable prior record, and that there were indeed things in the procedure that had to be taken into account," he explained. With this, the case is now closed and the Comptroller's Office must take note. Once that happens, the sanction begins to take effect. During that period, there is no impediment to Jaime Tohá continuing as Secpla director of Ñuñoa. More about:NationalSebastián SichelJaime Tohá