MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pinochet's 8 million US dollars in travelling expenses.

Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet collected 6,8 million US dollars as travelling expenses during several overseas trips between 1974/76, according to some Chilean Defence Ministry declassified documents.

The information became public following the disclosure by a Chilean journalist of official Chilean documents that were analyzed by the a special committee of the United States Senate, which looked into the Washington based Riggs Bank accounts of Mr. Pinochet.

Patricia Verdugo, an outstanding Chilean journalist who has dedicated much of her life to investigate General Pinochet's alleged political and fiscal crimes, showed a copy of an internal document, number 1026, belonging to the Chilean War Secretary with a description of the dictator's overseas travelling expenses.

The trips include Brazil for which Mr. Pinochet allegedly received 800,000 US dollars; Paraguay, 1,5 million US dollars; United States, 3 million US dollars; Argentina 500,000 US dollars and Spain one million US dollars.

"It's a legitimate question to ask how much of that money really was savings and how much was to pay for crimes", said Ms. Verdugo the daughter of an auditor who was killed by the Pinochet regime in the seventies.

Apparently, and according to Ms. Verdugo, the documents considered by the US Congressional Sub-committee also include Mr. Pinochet's travelling expenses when he visited the United Kingdom for the last time. The documents were considered by the US congressional committee last July 15.