Chilean president impeached over Pandora Papers revelation
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Sebastián Piñera was impeached Tuesday by the lower house of Chile’s congress, setting up a trial in the nation’s Senate over allegations he favored the sale of a family property while in office.
The vote to impeach got the bare minimum of 78 votes needed in the 155-member Chamber of Deputies and followed a marathon 20-hour session. Sixty-seven legislators voted against impeachment, including several members of the opposition. Others abstained or were absent. It’s unlikely he will be removed by the 43-member Senate, where the opposition has only 24 of the 29 votes needed to remove a president.
The accusation stems from publication of the so-called Pandora Papers, which revealed offshore financial dealings of prominent figures around the world, including Piñera, one of Chile’s wealthiest people.
The leaked documents revealed that one of Piñera’s sons used offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands for sale of the Dominga mining project, which his family co-owned.
https://apnews.com/article/congress-chile-impeachments-158c833ba66513b9e0335639b7246daf/gallery/4c82e2b705614ee5a3c0f98eada95528