Chilean mining company SQM has been criticised for appointing its former CEO Julio González as a strategic advisor . The move comes despite a previous agreement that the firm would distance itself from the controversial CEO , who had run SQM since it was privatised in the 1980s by his former father - in - law , the late dictator Augusto Pinochet . (Reuters) - Government and opposition politicians lined up with representatives of the business community to protest the decision , which the country 's finance minister described as " imprudent " . The government is looking into whether the appointment breaches a contract signed between them and SQM .
Chilean mining company SQM has been criticised for appointing its former CEO Julio González as a strategic advisor . The move comes despite a previous agreement that the firm would distance itself from the controversial CEO , who had run SQM since it was privatised in the 1980s by his former father - in - law , the late dictator Augusto Pinochet . Government and opposition politicians lined up with representatives of the business community to protest the decision , which the country 's finance minister described as " imprudent " . The government is looking into whether the appointment breaches a contract signed between them and SQM .