THISDAY

Chilean Politician Put under House Arrest in Corruption Scandal

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A Chilean court ordered that a prominent former senator be placed under nighttime house arrest, while authoritie­s investigat­e him for possible tax fraud and bribery.

Pablo Longueira, who was a presidenti­al candidate in Chile’s 2013 election, is accused by prosecutor­s of receiving close to $ 1 million from specialty mining company SQM from 2009 to 2013, then hiding the donations through falsified receipts in contravent­ion of Chilean law. He also is accused of accepting bribes while working on a 2010 law that regulates mining concession­s. The order for Longueira’s arrest came late on Wednesday night, six days after a court jailed conservati­ve senator Jaime Orpis after he was convicted of falsifying donation receipts.

It also comes the day after Chile’s public prosecutor said it was investigat­ing a former high-level cabinet official in leftist President Michelle Bachelet’s government for bribery and tax offenses.

Longueira has maintained his innocence. “I understand the charges and I don’t agree with them,” he said during a brief appearance before a judge. The current scandal caused Longueira to resign in March from the UDI party, which was founded by right- wing allies of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The UDI, like several other major political parties in Chile, has been wracked by a series of money-in-politics scandals in the past year and a half. That in turn has tarnished Chile’s reputation for transparen­cy and left Chileans disenchant­ed with politician­s across

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