Chile: Prosecutor’s Office Opens Investigation Against Piñera

On Friday, Attorney General Jorge Abbott opened an investigation against Chile's President Sebastian Piñera over the use of a tax haven for the sale of the Dominga mining company. 

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This decision was taken after the recommendations contained in a report issued by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the National Prosecutor's Office (UNAC), which analyzed the case's background. The UNAC examined the criminal investigation Exalmar-Dominga (ED), which concerns incompatible negotiation and use of inside information. It did so to verify whether the facts disclosed by the Pandora Papers (PP) had already been investigated.

The UNAC concluded that the facts are not included among those that had been investigated in the ED case. Given that the "res judicata" effect does not cover them, the Chilean authorities decided to proceed with the investigation.

The Prosecutor's Office explained that a new document is now available: the sales contract of the Dominga mining company written in English and signed in the British Virgin Islands. This element was not included in the ED investigation, "so we could say that this is a new background" the UNAC Director Marta Herrera stated.

She also pointed out that the facts "could involve crimes of bribery, corruption and possible tax offenses, which will be precisely the object of the investigation".

Abbott's decision completely refutes the argument that Piñera deployed to deny all the allegations against him. In the past few days, he claimed that the information revealed by the Pandora Papers was already public and judged in 2017.

In a Resolution issued today, the General Prosecutor named the Regional Prosecutor of Valparaiso Claudia Perivancich as the person in charge of this case. She is also investigating Piñera for his involvement in the human rights violations committed during the 2019 uprising.