Ex-dictator charged with tax evasion

TWO days short of his 90th birthday, General Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest at his Santiago mansion yesterday on charges of tax evasion.

He was not arrested for the thousands of deaths and disappearances for which opponents have long tried to have him imprisoned.

Lawyers pursuing the former dictator say the indictment is still a victory. Several relatives of the dictatorship’s victims cheered and embraced at the courthouse. Pinochet’s attorneys immediately appealed on grounds of ill-health, the factor that has blocked earlier trials.

Now a white-haired man who walks with difficulty, Pinochet is a far different figure from the scowling soldier in dark glasses under an officer’s cap who appeared at the head of the military junta that overthrew Chile’s elected socialist government in 1973.

It set off a wave of terror and torture as the dictatorship tried to root out communist influence by seizing thousands of suspected leftists - so many at first that a soccer stadium was needed to hold them. Many were never seen again.

According to an official report by the civilian government that succeeded Pinochet in 1990, 3,190 people were killed for political reasons during his regime. More than 1,000 remain unaccounted for. Tens of thousands fled their homeland to exile.

Attorney Hugo Gutierrez, who has spent years seeking to have Pinochet tried on rights charges, called the corruption arrest “a major achievement for the human rights movement.”

He said it “shows there is hope” for the many who want to see Pinochet tried for the suffering inflicted by his regime.

Judge Carlos Cerda ruled Pinochet could be freed on bail if the Santiago Court of Appeals so orders because, at 90, he does not pose any danger. The judge set bail at 12 million pesos (€19,344).

Pinochet was charged with evading 1.28 billion pesos (€2.06m) in taxes, using four false passports to open bank accounts abroad, submitting a false government document to a foreign bank and filing a false report on his assets.

Pinochet was indicted twice before on human rights charges, but courts blocked the trials on health grounds. Two other prosecution attempts were stopped for the same reason at earlier stages.

Health again appeared to be Pinochet’s line of defence yesterday. His attorney Pablo Rodriguez said he “is absolutely prevented by his health to face a trial.”

Pinochet’s spokesman, retired General Guillermo Garin, said: “It’s sad to see a person who dedicated his entire life to his country facing this situation.”

Court-appointed doctors recently determined that while Pinochet has health problems, including mild dementia, they are not serious enough to make him unfit the stand trial. They alleged that Pinochet had tried to make his problems appear worse than they are.

Pinochet also suffers from diabetes and arthritis and has a pacemaker.

Gen Garin said Pinochet’s house “is virtually a private clinic,” with army doctors on call at all times.

The first report of accounts abroad came from a US Senate report on the Riggs Bank in Washington, where Pinochet had $8m (€6.77m) at the time. Since then, accounts have been found in England, Gibraltar and elsewhere. His fortune is estimated at $28m (€23.7m).

Pinochet’s lawyers and associates insist the money came from legitimate donations, savings and interest on investments.

The general still faces scores of other criminal allegations filed by relatives of victims of his regime.