Mungo Soggot
One of the most popular foreign diplomats posted to Pretoria in recent years, former Chilean ambassador Jorge Heine, has resigned from ministerial office in Chile after being accused of charging personal expenses to his government.
Heine’s high-profile stint as ambassador to South Africa ended in January this year when he decided to take up a teaching post at the University of Chile.
He was soon headhunted to become minister of national assets in the government of Chilean President Eduardo Frei.
But just three months into his new ministerial job, Heine became embroiled in a fracas surrounding his expenses.
Last week he resigned from office, after having been accused of using government vehicles for personal use and making his department foot personal expenditure, including supermarket bills.
Heine’s troubles started when he fired a senior administrator who refused to sign off some of his expenses.
The administrator, a political appointee of Heine’s predecessor, then made the accusations against Heine, who was summoned to the minister of interior last Wednesday. Heine resigned the next day.
Heine has been praised by his ministerial colleagues for having quit.
One colleague was quoted in a Chilean newspaper, El Mercurio, as saying that Heine’s decision to resign reflected a “very respectable and dignified attitude” that showed he did not want to damage the government.
“He wants to defend himself as a simple civilian against the accusation, not as a minister,” the ministerial colleague added.
Heine has denied indulging in any impropriety, saying in interviews that he was obliged to resign after losing the confidence of his colleagues in the wake of the accusations.
Heine was posted to South Africa in 1994, and rapidly gained a reputation for being one of the sharpest and most professional diplomats in Pretoria. He was known for his generous entertaining, and his eagerness to engage with both journalists and local academics studying Chile.
“He was one of the most effective ambassadors to South Africa,” said Claudia Mutschler, a Chile-watcher at the Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg.
Heine told the Mail & Guardian this week he had been the victim of “a political ambush. I fired the administrative chief and he released a number of lies and half-truths. As a result I was left in a weak position,” he said.
`I have a letter from my successor who says there was absolutely no irregularity – just a number of half-truths. The issue is that my wife wanted to use my ministerial car while I was out of town – that is the level of this thing.”
Heine’s departure takes place in the run-up to Chile’s presidential elections in December. Chile’s coalition government is highly sensitive about projecting a clean image, which sets it apart from many other Latin American countries.
“They are obsessed with [fighting] corruption,” said one local analyst, who added that some Chilean hotels even mount signs warning foreign visitors against attempting to bribe anyone.
Chile’s economy has gone through a rough patch, prompting Frei to be particularly aggressive about cutting the budget deficit and trimming state expenditure.
Heine said he would return to academia but would remain politically active.
“I have powerful enemies but they will not drive me out,” he said.