Pandora Papers: an open investigation against Chilean President Sebastian Piñera

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The Chilean prosecution has announced the opening of an investigation against President Sebastian Piñera regarding the sale of a mining company by a company owned by his children. This cited operation is in the investigation of the Pandora Papers.

After the revelations of the Pandora Papers related to the sale of a mining company by the company of his children, an investigation was opened against the Chilean president Sebastian Piñera.

“The Attorney General […] decided to open a criminal investigation into the facts associated with what is known as ‘Pandora Papers’ and connected with the purchase and sale of the mining company Dominga, in connection with the family of President Piñera “Marta Herrera, head of the anti-corruption unit in the prosecutor’s office, told reporters on Friday (October 8).

“These facts could constitute, when the time comes, corruption offenses”

Sebastian Piñera, one of the political leaders appearing in the Pandora Papers, investigation leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), on Monday denied any conflict of interest in the sale of the mining company Dominga to a close friend . The sale took place in 2010 during the first term of the Chilean head of state (2010-2015), back in power since 2018.

“The Attorney General made this decision considering that these facts could constitute when the time comes corruption offenses, with their corollary in terms of bribes and possible tax offenses, questions that will be the subject investigation, ”Marta Herrera added.

Given “the seriousness of the facts under investigation”, the case will be handled by a regional prosecution, in this case that of Valparaiso, said the magistrate.

According to an investigation by the Chilean media CIPER and LaBot, members of the ICIJ, the mining company Minera Dominga was sold in 2010 to the businessman Carlos Alberto Délano, a friend of the head of state, for $ 152 million, a transaction made in the British Virgin Islands.

Payment for the transaction was to be made in three installments, and contained a controversial clause that made the final payment conditional on “an environmental protection zone not being established on the mining company’s operating area, such as ask environmental groups “.

According to the investigation, the government of Sebastian Piñera, after rejecting the project of another company in the name of the defense of the environment, did not finally protect the area where the mining was planned, if although the third payment has been made.

An impeachment procedure?

Chilean opposition deputies had already announced on Tuesday that they would initiate a procedure that could lead to the dismissal of President Sebastian Piñera. This move aims to establish the accountability of senior officials, and if successful, it can lead to the dismissal of Piñera, six weeks before the first round of the presidential election.

The lower house will vote on the admissibility of the opposition’s approach, which must obtain a simple majority of the votes of its 155 members to be approved. Then, the act will be presented to the Senate where the vote of two-thirds of the 43 senators is required.

The opposition will present its request next week and expect it to be voted on in the Chamber of Deputies before November 21, the date of the first round of the presidential election. Sebastian Piñera, who ruled the country between 2010 and 2014 and then since 2018, cannot run again.

With AFP