Chile’s RN Seeks to Bar Jadue From Congress Amid Pharmacy Probe

A Santiago court has rejected a petition by former Recoleta mayor Daniel Jadue’s legal team to extend by 120 days the investigation in the so-called Caso Farmacias Populares, a municipal discount-pharmacy initiative now at the centre of corruption charges. The Tercer Juzgado de Garantía instead granted the defence roughly three additional weeks to prepare for trial and postponed the oral-trial preparation hearing to 8 October. Prosecutors formally indicted Jadue on 6 August, seeking a sentence of up to 18 years in prison and a 15-year ban on holding public office for alleged bribery, fraud and other offences. Jadue, a Communist Party figurehead, denies wrongdoing and is running for a lower-house seat representing Santiago’s District 9. In the wake of the court ruling, opposition party Renovación Nacional filed a motion with the Second Electoral Tribunal of the Metropolitan Region to declare Jadue ineligible, citing Chilean constitutional provisions that suspend political rights once a person is formally accused of a serious crime. A private plaintiff’s lawyer said he will make a similar request to the national electoral service, Servel. The tribunal has not indicated when it will rule on the petitions.