The president defends that he dissociated himself from his businesses through blind trusts in 2009 and that from what was revealed he was already tried and dismissed in 2017.
The president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, was unable to leave the country on Tuesday until the Senate decides on the impeachment that the Chamber of Deputies initiated against him for alleged irregularities in the sale of a controversial mining project.
Unlike what happens when a political trial is opened to other authorities, in the case of the president, he is not suspended from his functions while the process is being carried out, but he will not be able to leave the country without the agreement of Parliament.
After a marathon parliamentary session of almost 24 hours, the Chilean Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday by 78 votes in favor, 67 against and 3 abstentions to carry out a political trial to dismiss Piñera for the alleged irregularities revealed in the investigation of the papers from Pandora.
The process, called in Chile a constitutional indictment, was presented on October 13 by the opposition accusing the president of having failed the principle of “probity” and “seriously compromising the honor of the Nation.”
After the approval of the impeachment by the deputies, the procedure was now transferred to the Senate, which in the next few days will decide as a jury and will limit itself to declaring whether or not the accused is guilty of what he is accused of.
To declare whether the accusation against the president is appropriate, the approval by two thirds of the House will be needed in the Senate, this is at least 29 favorable votes of the 43 seats that there are and of which the opposition controls 24.
In case of being found guilty, Piñera will be removed from his position and will not be able to perform any public function, whether or not it is popularly elected, for the next five years.
Pandora’s papers revealed alleged irregularities in the sale of Minera Dominga by a company owned by Piñera’s sons in the British Virgin Islands to a close friend of the presidential family, just nine months after he assumed office for his first non-consecutive term (2010-2014).
The president defends that he dissociated himself from his businesses through blind trusts in 2009 and that from what was revealed he was already tried and dismissed in 2017.
The impeachment trial runs alongside an investigation in the Public Ministry for possible tax crimes and bribery in the same operation. (I)
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