Fiscales piden que se levante el secreto bancario para Camila Flores y rastrear el escándalo de la 'Cuota Flores'

Original article: Que se abran las cuentas: Fiscalía va por secreto bancario de Camila Flores para seguir la ruta de la “Cuota Flores” The Valparaíso Regional Prosecutor’s Office has requested the Guarantee Court to lift the banking secrecy of Senator Camila Flores (RN) as part of an investigation into potential tax fraud. This aims to trace the financial pathways of funds that the legislator allegedly appropriated from the salaries of her advisors, a practice reportedly known internally as the «Flores Fee. » The inquiry began following an anonymous tip alleging that during her time as a congresswoman, Flores allegedly «demanded» that a portion of the salaries of her staff, funded through Congressional resources, be handed over in cash to cover personal expenses.

This situation reportedly continued for at least seven years, with amounts nearing $300 million. Central to this operation was the legislator’s secretary, Yolanda Olfos, who was responsible for coordinating the collection of these funds. «Possible Scheme Aimed at Defrauding the Treasury» According to a 12-page document submitted by the Public Ministry, the gathered evidence suggests a “possible scheme aimed at defrauding the treasury involving public officials – under the terms of Article 260 of the Penal Code – who were deceiving and violating their fiduciary responsibilities regarding the safeguarding of public funds.

” For this reason, regional prosecutor Claudia Perivancich requested the lifting of the bank account secrecy of the senator, stating that this is essential to “understand the flow of income and expenditures, behavioral patterns, and analyze whether the income aligns with her declared wages or earnings while determining if there exist resource transfer relationships between the accused and third parties under investigation,” as reported by T13. This request followed actions taken last Wednesday by OS9 officers from the Carabineros and the Valparaíso Regional Prosecutor’s Office, who conducted a search warrant at Flores’ residence in Viña del Mar as well as at her offices in the National Congress. They seized her institutional computer, personal phone, folders with accounting documentation, and extracted data from the Chamber’s servers.

Bank Statements, WhatsApp Records, and Testimonies Complicate Flores CIPER revealed that this investigation was facilitated by the “substantial cooperation” of a former aide who allegedly provided bank statements and WhatsApp records necessary for tracing the funds. The evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office includes WhatsApp conversations between Flores and her secretary Yolanda Olfos, alongside a damning statement from former advisor and public relations officer, Julio Lillo. According to his testimony, after signing his contract to work with Flores in 2018, the then-congresswoman privately summoned him to her congressional office.

There, in a tone of «trust among friends,» she allegedly confessed to being “in a bind with expenses” and asked him to reimburse part of her salary. “This will only be temporary – she told him – until I get it sorted out. ” That never happened.

Lillo detailed how, after each of his salary deposits, he would go to the bank, withdraw cash, and then personally deliver the money to Flores, who would take it and keep it in her purse. Over time, the legislator altered the arrangements: she ordered that the money be handed directly to her secretary, Yolanda Olfos, effectively making her the collector for a parallel slush fund. The WhatsApp messages seized from Olfos’ phone illustrate this process.

In one conversation, Flores asks: “Did you talk to Julio? ” Olfos replies that she did and that Lillo wants to keep 400,000 pesos “like at the beginning. ” Flores inquires about the amount, and her secretary calculates: “1,200,000.

” The senator’s response is a curt order: “Okay, not less than that. Just accept it. Not one less than that, for sure.

” In another exchange, when a deposit seems delayed, Flores jokes: “hahaha, always excuses. I don’t even want to know the reasons anymore,” as reported by T13. However, the case file does not only pertain to aides.

In the request to lift the banking secrecy, the Public Ministry included testimonies from three domestic workers of the senator. They claimed that Flores paid their weekly wages exclusively in cash: sums of 250,000, 150,000, and 40,000 pesos, depending on the individual. One of them specified that “Ms.

Camila would take the cash from her purse and hand it to me in 20,000 and 10,000 peso bills. ” This constant handling of significant amounts of cash, the prosecution argues, “could indicate the final destination of the defrauded amounts.