MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pinochet closer to tax-evasion charges

The government yesterday moved to charge former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet with evading taxes on millions of dollars he had stashed away in a US bank.

The 88-year-old should face "tax crimes" related to the accounts at Riggs Bank in Washington, Chile's Internal Revenue Service said in a statement. He put four million to eight million dollars in accounts at the bank between 1994 and 2002, officials say. The agency has not said how much in taxes Pinochet owes. A judge will look at the case and decide whether to formally file charges. A spokesman for the tax agency told newsmen that there would be no further comments because "the case is now in the hands of justice."

Also named in the case was Oscar Aiken, a legal and financial adviser to Pinochet and his executor.

If convicted, Pinochet could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined. Pinochet also faces hundreds of criminal cases stemming from the human rights abuses during his 1973-90 reign. According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons during that period.

"We do not care about this or other suits," Pinochet's chief lawyer, Pablo Rodríguez said yesterday about the tax service action. "We will just continue to cooperate with the courts as we have done all along."

Pinochet has been stripped of the immunity from prosecution he enjoyed as former president, and could be indicted if he is found to be in adequate health. He has been spared trial three times before because doctors have diagnosed him with a mild case of dementia and other ailments, including diabetes, arthritis and a heart problem.

According to the US report, Riggs managers helped Pinochet conceal millions of dollars from international prosecutors and US regulators. Pinochet's lawyers and associates have said the money is legitimate, the result of savings, donations and good investments.