Chilean opposition to present constitutional charge against President Sebastián Piñera for Pandora Papers

Chilean opposition deputies announced on Tuesday that They will present a constitutional charge against President Sebastián Piñera, linked, according to the revelations of the Pandora Papers, to the sale of the mining company Dominga by the company of his children.

“All the opposition benches We agreed to launch a constitutional indictment against President Sebastián PiñeraJaime Naranjo, deputy of the Socialist Party, flanked by other parliamentarians, told the Congress press.

The constitutional prosecution seeks to establish the responsibility of senior officials and, if successful, may lead to the dismissal of Piñera, six weeks before the first round of the presidential election. It could also result in the defendant’s inability to hold public office, but in order to thrive, the absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

Piñera is in the center of controversy after Chilean media investigation LaBot and CIPER, part of the Pandora Papers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), linked it to the 2010 sale of mining company Dominga Through a company owned by his children, businessman Carlos Délano – a close friend of the president – for $ 152 million.

Piñera and his family have reportedly sealed the controversial sale of their stake in the project, which seriously threatens an important natural sanctuary in the north of the country.

According to the same survey, a large part of the operation was carried out in the tax haven of the Islands british virgins.

Likewise, the agreement included a controversial clause which conditioned the company’s latest payment to “not establish an environmental protection zone on the mining company’s operating area, as environmental groups claim“, A decision that falls on the face of the Chilean president.

“The grounds and grounds for this accusation will be based on having violated the principle of probity [que obliga a los funcionarios públicos tener un desempeño honesto y leal] and also for having seriously compromised the honor of the fatherlandNaranjo added.

“Our mind and our spirit is that this accusatory wording will be presented next week, and we will do everything we can to make it happen effectivelySaid Socialist Party deputy Jaime Naranjo from Congress.

Piñera rejected all accusations and possible conflicts of interest after confirming that all his assets had been placed under a blind trust since his first presidency (2010-2014) and that he was Dismissed from any crime after justice investigated the events in 2017.

“The facts mentioned in this report They are not new, they were publicly known to the media in 2017 and have also been thoroughly investigated by the prosecution and resolved by the courts.“, Also underlined the Head of State.

MEPs will present the constitutional charge next week and expect it to be voted on in the Chamber of Deputies before November 21., during the first round of the presidential elections.

If approved, this would be the second attempt to politically try the president, after the failed November 2019 attempt for human rights violations amid massive protests against the inequalities denounced by various international organizations, the most serious since the end of the military dictatorship.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor, Jorge Abott, tasked the Public Prosecutor’s Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate the existence of possible tax offenses, related to influence peddling or incompatible negotiations.

Piñera est, with the Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso and the Dominican Luis Abinader, one of the three Latin American presidents asset sprinkled by this investigation, which once again rocked the world after the Panama Papers of 2016.

(With AFP, EFE information)

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