Yasna Provoste - Impeachment Trial

Impeachment Trial

In February 2008, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic reported that around US$500 million transferred by the Education Ministry to public and subsidized private schools during 2004–2008 were not properly accounted for and that nearly US$600K were illegally transferred by an accountant working in the Ministry's Santiago Regional Office to private school managers and her relatives. There were also reports of financial mismanagement in other areas, as well as duplicate enrollment of thousands of students.

Chamber of Deputies:

• Admissibility of impeachment against the Minister of Education Yasna Provoste.
  • Yes: 59 (50.9%)
  • No: 55 (47.4%)
  • Abstention: 2 (1.7%)
  • Not present: 3, Christian Democrat Gabriel Ascencio and former Party for Democracy Esteban Valenzuela.]
  • Barred from voting: 1

Senate:

• Count 1: Not correcting the grave infringements and irregularities committed by the Santiago Metropolitan Region Ministerial Secretary of Education in the handling of public funds.
  • Yes: 20 (52.6%)
  • No: 18 (47.4%)
  • Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
  • Result: Approved.

• Count 2: Not applying sanctions in the cases of grave infractions to the subsidizing law.
  • Yes: 19 (50.0%)
  • No: 19 (50.0%)
  • Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
  • Result: Rejected.

• Count 3: Not dismissing the Santiago Metropolitan Region Ministerial Secretary of Education, administratively responsible in the grave infractions and irregularities.
  • Yes: 4 (10.5%)
  • No: 34 (89.5%)
  • Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
  • Result: Rejected.

• Count 4: Ignoring the results and recommendations of audits that revealed the very grave irregularities committed in different programs and regions of the country.
  • Yes: 14 (36.8%)
  • No: 24 (63.2%)
  • Abstention: 0 (0.0%)
  • Result: Rejected.

• Count 5: Providing inaccurate or intentionally incomplete information to the public opinion and to the Chamber of Deputies, thus violating the principle of administrative probity.
  • Yes: 3 (7.9%)
  • No: 34 (89.5%)
  • Abstention: 1 (2.6%)
  • Result: Rejected.

Provoste was accused by the opposition of not correcting these irregularities and was impeached (violation of article 52, number 2, letter b of the Constitution) as minister of Education by the Chamber of Deputies on April 3, 2008 and suspended from her post. The Senate heard her case on April 15, 2008 and voted to convict her the following day on one out of five counts. She was immediately removed from her job and disqualified from office for the following five years.