Santiago — Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) said April 1 that the Chilean Superintendence of Securities and Insurance initiated an administrative process against the five current members of SQM’s board of directors for allegedly failing to provide the market with information that could be relevant for investment decisions in a timely and reliable manner. SQM said the information is mainly related to the preliminary estimate of the potential impact on the company’s financial statements of certain expenses ($11 million) paid by SQM between 2009-2014, and that may and that may not qualify as tax expenses under the Chilean tax code, due to insufficient supporting documentation (GM March 30, p. 12). As a result, SQM said March 30 that it has paid $7 million, which will be charged against first-quarter 2015 net income. Of this, $4 million was related to tax expenses and $3 million interest.
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