Chile's Presidency Refutes Pandora Papers Accusations Against Pinera

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - President of Chile Sebastian Pinera denies the claims made by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) regarding the sale of the copper and iron mine Minera Dominga in the British Virgin Islands.

According to the new ICIJ leak (Pandora Papers), Pinera's family sold the Minera Dominga business to the president's childhood friend, businessman Carlos Alberto Delano, in 2010 with a deed signed in Chile for $14 million and another in the Virgin Islands for $138 million.

"The facts mentioned in the report regarding the sale of Minera Dominga were already investigated in depth by the Public Ministry and the Courts of Justice in the course of 2017 and the Prosecutor's Office recommended to terminate the case due to the lack of crime, to comply with the law, considering the lack of participation of President Sebastian Pinera in the aforementioned operation", Pinera's office said in a Sunday statement.

According to Pinera's representatives, the president had not managed his own companies for 12 years and was not informed of the process of Minera Dominga's sale.

On 3 October, the ICIJ published a new leak on the alleged financial secrets of over 35 current and former world leaders, as well as more than 330 politicians and officials from across the globe. ICIJ said the publication, called Pandora Papers in reference to the 2016 Panama Papers scandal, was based on a leak of 11.9 million files containing the work of 14 offshore law firms.

The incumbent presidents of Ecuador, Chile, and the Dominican Republic, as well as 11 former Latin American leaders, are listed in the Pandora Papers investigation into offshore schemes.