Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera facing impeachment over Pandora Papers claims
- Chilean opposition legislators moved to impeach billionaire President Sebastian Pinera
- Pandora Papers highlighted potential conflict of interests in sale of mining project by president’s family
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Chile’s opposition moved to impeach the country’s president, Sebastian Pinera, for the controversial sale of a mining company through a firm owned by his children, which appeared in the Pandora Papers leaks.
Pinera used “his office for personal business,” said congressman Tomas Hirsch when presenting the accusation in the lower house of Congress on Wednesday, the first step in the impeachment process that could last for several weeks.
The move comes after the Chilean public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on October 8 into the claims surrounding the sale in 2010, during Pinera’s first term in office, of the Dominga mining company.
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That investigation was prompted by the Pandora Papers leaks, a vast trove of reports on the hidden wealth of world leaders researched by the International Consortium of Journalists (ICIJ).
One of the richest men in Chile, Pinera has denied the claims and said that he was absolved of the charges in a 2017 investigation.
When the new investigation was opened last week, Pinera said he had “full confidence that the courts, as they have already done, will confirm there were no irregularities and also my total innocence”.
Now Chile’s Chamber of Deputies, controlled by the opposition, will have to decide whether to approve or reject the indictment, a vote that will take place the first week of November, congressional sources said.
If it receives the green light, the case would pass to the Senate, which would have to act as a jury to seal Pinera’s fate.
It is the second impeachment case brought against Pinera after an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from office in 2019 over the at-times brutal crackdown of anti-inequality protesters.
The decision is expected to be made before Chileans head to the polls on November 21 to elect Pinera’s successor and a new congress.
His second term, which began in March 2018, ends March 11, 2022.
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The government accused the opposition of bringing “an accusation without legal basis” for political gain.
“It is the dirtiest (trick) of the electoral campaign,” said Jaime Bellolio, the government’s communications minister.
The Pandora Papers linked Pinera to the sale of Dominga through a company owned by his children, to businessman Carlos Delano – a close friend of the president – for US$152 million.
The papers said a large part of the operation was carried out in the British Virgin Islands.
Part of the payment was conditional on the government not declaring the area a nature reserve. Pinera was serving his first term as president at the time, with the ultimate word on any change in status for the zone.
Chile’s public prosecutor said last week the investigation was opened following the Pandora Papers leaks because of the possibility that the deal involved “bribery, eventual tax crimes”.
If found guilty, billionaire Pinera could be jailed for up to five years.
Dominga owns two open-air mines in the Atacama Desert, 500km (310 miles) north of Santiago, that are yet to be exploited.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
