First modification:
The Lower House of Chile approved on November 9 the constitutional accusation to open a political trial against President Sebastián Piñera. The accusations focus on alleged irregularities due to the sale of a mining company that belonged to the president’s family, a case revealed last October in the ‘Pandora Papers’, the great investigation on tax evasion and tax havens of the ICIJ.
After a hectic and extensive day of almost 24 hours, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday, November 9, to open a political trial for the purpose of impeachment against President Sebastián Piñera.
The constitutional accusation, promoted en bloc by the opposition, was endorsed with 78 votes in favor, 67 against and three abstentions. The legislative body thus achieved the minimum support it required to approve the process.
This was one of the most unique sessions that the Chilean Lower House has experienced in decades and that ended after the arrival, after midnight, of the legislator Girorgio Jackson, who only until that moment had completed a preventive quarantine for Covid-19.
His vote ended up giving the final blow to the opponents who, since October 13, presented their request to impute the head of state for failing to the principle of “probity” and “seriously compromising the honor of the Nation.”
Now the process must go to the Senate, which will be in charge of judging the president. The Upper House must discuss it between this Friday, November 12 and Monday, November 15.
However, there it requires a minimum of 29 votes to advance with the indictment, when the opposition has 24 senators.
The process is launched just a few days before the presidential elections on November 21, considered the most momentous and uncertain in the recent history of the country and in which Piñera’s successor will be defined.
The case that has Piñera on the ropes
The situation refers to the controversial revelations of the journalistic investigation known as ‘Pandora Papers’ or the ‘Pandora Papers’, which last October revealed that at least 35 world leaders were involved in alleged cases of corruption, linked to tax havens.
Among them, 14 Latin Americans of which the Chilean president Sebastián Piñera stands out. His name was sprinkled for allegedly favoring the sale of the controversial mega mining project Dominga, during his first term in office, between 2010 and 2014.
TO #PandoraPapers investigation by ICIJ partner @ciper revealed a contract signed in the British Virgin Islands involving the sale of a Piñera family stake in a mining project while he was president, which the opposition alleges is a conflict of interest. https://t.co/TlcjgTAzBw
– ICIJ (@ICIJorg) November 8, 2021
According to the cited documents, the mining company was sold to a businessman and friend of the president, Carlos Alberto Délano for a total of 152 million dollars. 138 million of them in an act signed in the Virgin Islands.
For this, in the tax haven a contract was signed that established a payment in three installments and, in order to comply with the last one, there had to be no regulatory changes that would hinder the installation of the mine and its port. But the decision would fall precisely on the Government of Piñera.
After the publications of the ‘Pandora Papers’, the Palacio de la Moneda refuted the accusations and assured that the case had already been investigated and dismissed by the Public Ministry and the Courts of Justice, in 2017.
With EFE and local media
.