The deputy Maite Orsini, a member of the Democratic Revolution (DR), appeared on Tuesday before the Ethics Commission of the Chamber of Deputies to respond to the request presented by deputies of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), who accused her of influence peddling for the so-called “phone call” case. During the session, the parliamentarian had the opportunity to present her version of the facts before the disciplinary body.
It is worth mentioning that Deputy Orsini made a phone call to General Karina Soza, director of Human Rights and Protection of the Carabineros Family, after a controversial arrest of former soccer player Jorge Valdivia. An illegal and arbitrary act was accused against the former national team, during a police procedure where his rights would have been violated.
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Although it had been agreed to keep the result of the hearing secret, it transpired that the majority of the members of the commission accepted the request presented against Orsini and he was fined 5% of his parliamentary allowance, equivalent to about 270,000 pesos. However, no agreement was reached to apply the maximum sanction of “censorship”, which can imply a fine of up to 15% of the liquid diet, since only four deputies were in favor of this measure.
In this regard, according to La Tercera, the president of the commission, Deputy Nelson Venegas (PS), has not yet issued an official statement on the resolution, since the corresponding notification to the affected deputy is awaited.
For her part, Orsini was upset with the fact that information about the ruling was leaked before being notified. In addition, she declared that she will study the ruling to determine if it is necessary to use legal tools to prove her innocence.
The deputy maintains that she has not committed any breach of ethics and that the communication she had with the authorities involved cannot be interpreted as influence peddling.
