Almost 380 million pesos—from public coffers—were received by the Daya Foundation in exchange for providing 14 municipalities with a cannabis-based drug. The problem? The Comptroller’s Office detected that only two communes received all of the committed doses. Another couple obtained a smaller number than agreed and 11 were simply left empty-handed.
This is at least stated in a preliminary report from the control body – to which BBCL Investiga had access – in which there are indications of numerous irregularities in the organization founded by the current deputy, Ana María Gazmuri, and her spouse, Nicolás Dormal.
In the 58-page document, the supervisory body questions the lack of control of the municipalities that signed the agreement and points them out for violating the principles of “efficiency, responsibility and transparency” established in the law.
Duplicate expenses and disbursement of million-dollar resources for items not associated with the agreements are part of the findings that must be confirmed or distorted in the final report, still in progress, of the CGR.
The investigation
The investigation into the “compassionate use of cannabis oil” program began after the Comptroller’s Office received two complaints for a possible non-compliance with the organization’s accountability.
This is a project that included the signing of agreements with 14 communes between June 2015 and May 2016. Simply put, through these agreements, the municipalities would jointly finance the costs of the initiative. This includes infrastructure, materials, equipment, supplies, cultivation, human resources, general expenses and preparation of the medicine.
In exchange, all communes would receive the cannabis-based drug, with the aim of providing the treatment to 100 or 200 patients for a year. Thus, the communal administrations disbursed approximately between 17 and 35 million pesos, depending on the case. On average, each municipality would invest a total of $176,227 for each patient.
However, problems began shortly after. First, because—according to the Comptroller’s Office—Calama, Tocopilla, Calera de Tango and Quinta Normal signed the agreement even before the SAG permits were in place for the sowing, planting, cultivation and harvesting of cannabis, in addition to the importation of 6,900 seeds from the Netherlands. And second, because something similar happened with ISP authorizations. The fact is that, as can be seen from the documents seen by this means, it was proven that 13 municipalities under analysis signed the agreement, and even transferred resources to Daya, before the ISP authorized the use of the medication.
They paid but were left empty handed
But there is more. The Comptroller’s Office also confirmed that, as of the date of this report, 9 of the 14 municipalities studied did not even receive the phytopharmaceutical agreed upon in the respective agreements with the Daya Foundation. This, despite the fact that all of them had already disbursed the millionaire resources.
Indeed, according to what was reported by the laboratory in charge of its preparation, in a meeting held with the Comptroller’s Office on March 22, 2024, only Quilicura and Chillán received the promised treatment for the number of patients indicated in the agreement. Meanwhile, Graneros and Antofagasta obtained only a minor part of the required medications (see box).
Regarding the reasons that led to the majority of municipalities not finally receiving the committed doses, the Daya Foundation’s response indicates that, among other things, the municipalities often they did not generate “the conditions” for the implementation of the program.
“It is difficult for us to understand the lack of management of some municipalities, given that all the necessary milestones were achieved, creating the conditions for each municipality to implement the treatment delivery program,” they say.
And they add that “this project was not an outsourcing of a service, but rather it was a collaborative innovation project that required both parties to carry out all the actions within their reach for its success.”
Be that as it may, sources consulted by this medium within the different municipalities involved point out that in the absence of the medication, the organization almost always provided evasive answers. Even, off microphone, from one of the building houses that transferred more than $30 million without receiving anything in return, they affirm that the feeling there is is that they were “victims of a scam.”
There are some building houses that are also evaluating the presentation of legal actions as a result of what happened.
The salaries
During the investigation, the salaries received by the current deputy, Ana María Gazmuri, and her husband, co-founder of the organization, Nicolás Dormal, also came to light. In December 2015, she earned more than $2.2 million. He, meanwhile, received $1.7 million that same month. In March of the following year his settlement increased to $2.3 million.
On this point, Daya highlights that during the months they received remuneration “both worked exclusively for the foundation, this project being the main activity of the organization at that time.” “Both were in charge of its prior design, management and execution,” they emphasize.
Along these lines, they add that “Nicolás Dormal was hired on December 1, 2015 by Fundación Daya to take charge of the operations of the project, giving up his previous job, for which he received a salary almost double what he received in the foundation”.
In total, the foundation explains, Nicolás received 11 months of salary and the current deputy Gazmuri, 9 months. In fact, the latter resigned from the position of president of the organization and was hired as its executive director from November 1, 2015 to take charge of the project.
Duplicate surrenders
According to the pre-report seen by BBCL Investiga, in the investigation carried out by the Comptroller’s Office, the absence of some expense reports was detected. Other disbursements were made twice to different municipalities.
In this section, it was also verified that Fundación Daya incurred expenses for amounts greater than those that had actually been transferred. They did it with five of the municipalities that signed the agreement: Calama, Copiapó, Peñalolén, Quinta Normal and Graneros.
“It was found that the foundation incurred a series of expenses that did not comply with the objective of the project established in the various agreements signed with the municipal entities,” the investigation established.
The list of expenses that did not meet the objective is made up tickets for psychological consultations, payment of circulation permits and vehicle repairsin addition to the payment of commission to a property broker.
Likewise, it was observed that the Daya Foundation incurred as an expense the the rental of a property in the commune of Providencia, for a monthly amount greater than $1.7 million. Said address, the Comptroller’s Office shows, does not correspond to that of the foundation nor to the address of the land where the marijuana plantation was carried out.
“In addition, the files do not present further detail and/or evidence that said disbursements have been used in the development of the program,” they concluded.
In response to questions from BBCL Investiga, the co-founder of the Daya Foundation and current member of its board of directors, Nicolás Dormal, explained the reasons that motivated the rental of the house as an office:
—The office we occupied until that moment was a space provided by a friendly organization, and it did not have the necessary conditions for the expanded team and the work of centralizing the management of the project. This is how in April 2016 an office house was rented as part of general expenses, five months having already passed since the start of the project. And only five months of rent for the house were allocated within the fourteen-month period of project execution expenses, which included the rental commission, because during that period it was also used for other activities of the foundation — he argues. .
However, now the Comptroller’s Office is awaiting responses from the 13 municipalities whose expenses are being objected. This could lead to several scenarios: the correction of irregularities; demanding restitution of some or all of the funds Daya received; the eventual initiation of investigations; and, in the worst case, the sending of records to the Public Ministry. The latter, as long as the supervisory body considers that the commission of criminal offenses is configured.
