Wave of criticism of Piñera after being pointed out in the Pandora Papers

The massive leak on operations in tax havens called “Pandora PapersThis Sunday unleashed a wave of criticism against the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, who was singled out for having carried out part of the sale of a controversial mining project in the British Virgin Islands.

The criticism came mainly from the opposition of the left and center and filled social networks, where the hashtag #ElPeorPresidenteDeLaHistoria was the most shared for hours.

“The information that we have just learned is extremely serious. Sebastián Piñera evades taxes in tax havens, hides relevant information and also always privileges his personal interest over the common good, ”said Gabriel Boric, presidential candidate of the left bloc I Approve Dignity for the November elections.

The Dominga mining project, added the hitherto favorite in the polls, “is an attack on the environment and a unique ecosystem that we have in Chile and that we must protect.”

For the centrist candidate, the Christian Democrat Yasna Provoste, “it is inconceivable that a president of the Republic acts for his own benefit, stopping environmental protection in La Higuera, to ensure a personal income with Minera Dominga.”

“Chile demands complete transparency,” added the former president of the Senate.

The president of the Progressive Party and presidential candidate, Marco Enríquez-Ominami said for his part that “Piñera is enriched at the expense of our environment” and asked the deputies to promote a political trial in Parliament “for acting against the environment, the common good and the principle of probity ”.

Neither the official candidate Sebastián Sichel, who was minister in the current term of Piñera (2018-2022), nor the far-right José Antonio Kast have not yet spoken.

DENY PARTICIPATION

An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), in collaboration with the Chilean media CIPER and LaBot, revealed this Sunday alleged irregularities in the sale of the Dominga mining project in 2010, a few months after Piñera came to power for a first non-consecutive mandate.

Piñera and his family were the largest shareholders in the Dominga project, but they sold their shares to their friend and businessman Carlos Alberto Délano with a certificate signed in Chile for $ 14 million and another in the British Virgin Islands for $ 138 million.

The payment was supposed to take place in three installments, although the last one depended on not creating an area of ​​environmental protection for that mining project, as requested by environmental groups and something that Piñera decided not to establish, according to the investigation.

In a statement sent a few minutes after the news was revealed, Piñera denied having “participated or having had any information regarding the Minera Domingo sale process” and assured that “it has not participated in the administration of any company for more than 12 years. , before assuming his first presidency ”.

“The aforementioned events were already investigated by the Public Ministry and the Courts of Justice during 2017 and the Prosecutor’s Office recommended ending the case due to the lack of crime (…) and the lack of participation of the president,” the presidential office wielded.

Piñera, who has one of the largest fortunes in the country and will leave power in March 2022, is one of the three active Latin American presidents dotted by this investigation, which has once again shaken the world after the Panama Papers of 2016, together with the Ecuadorian Guillermo Lasso and the Dominican Luis Abinader.