MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

'Pinochet can face fraud charges'

A Chilean appeals court has stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution so he can face tax fraud and other charges.

They relate to millions of dollars he held in secret bank accounts.

"In four out of five areas of investigation, the judges voted for removing immunity," Juan Escobar, president of the 25-judge Santiago Appeals Court, told reporters at the court house.

His defence is expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

It is the third time the appeals court has stripped Pinochet, 89, of the immunity that is a privilege of former presidents. The two previous occasions involved charges of human rights abuses under his 1973-1990 military rule.

In those cases, the Supreme Court upheld the appeals court decision. One case was thrown out when the Supreme Court decided that Pinochet was too mentally infirm to face the court proceedings. The other is pending.

An estimated 3,000 people died in political violence during his regime, and tens of thousands more were imprisoned, tortured and exiled.

Pinochet supporters say he did what he had to do to fight communism and to put the country on track to become the region's model economy.

Chilean Judge Sergio Munoz, who began investigating Pinochet's finances last year, said in a recent court filing that he found that Pinochet and his family hid up to £10 million in more than 100 foreign bank accounts, often under false names.