Big news out of Chile today. President Sebastián Piñera has been impeached weeks after the Pandora Papers revealed details of a controversial mining deal, which the opposition argued constituted a conflict of interest.
Members of the lower house of the legislature voted to impeach based on reporting by ICIJ partners, the Chilean Center for Investigative Reporting (CIPER) and Labot. The investigation revealed a contract, signed offshore, involving the $138 million sale of a Piñera family stake, which was allegedly contingent on the government not enacting new environmental regulations while Piñera was president. Piñera denies wrongdoing.
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The impeachment was approved after a dramatic debate that carried on for almost 24 hours in order to make time for a legislator to be released from quarantine to cast a key vote. The bid now moves to the Senate, while presidential and legislative elections are set to take place later this month.
Piñera is one of three current Latin American presidents whose offshore dealings came to light in the Pandora Papers, and one of a number of world leaders now facing probes as a result of the global investigation.
“I want it to be an example and testimony that this parliament is capable of putting an end to the abuses, to the impunity with which this government has acted,” said opposition leader Jaime Naranjo, who spoke for more than 14 hours of the filibuster.
