Authorities confirm criminal investigation being conducted over allegations of harassment.

Chilean authorities have confirmed that President Gabriel Boric is being investigated over allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement on Tuesday, Attorney General Cristian Crisosto said allegations filed in September at the prosecutor’s office of Magallanes in southern Chile, where Boric previously served as a lawmaker, are being investigated.

The 38-year-old Boric has “categorically” denied the allegations through his attorney Jonatan Valenzuela, who said in a statement that Boric himself had been “the victim of systematic harassment via email”.

Valenzuela said the complaint comes from a woman who sent Boric unsolicited and sexually explicit emails from July 2013 to July 2014 while the complaint accuses Boric of harassment and leaking private images.

He added that the president had “never had an emotional or friendly relationship” with the accuser, who is unnamed, and communications records between Boric and the woman have been submitted to authorities to “clarify the status of the president as a victim”.

Crisosto said “there is a criminal case related to the facts listed” and a special investigative team has been tasked with looking into the matter.

Boric took office in March 2022 after a wave of mass protests against neoliberal economic policies and has struggled to move progressive priorities forward

The harassment allegation comes at a time when the Chilean president is mired in a separate scandal involving allegations that former Undersecretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve raped a subordinate.

Boric enjoys presidential immunity and would have to be impeached to be formally investigated for a crime.