‘Penniless’ Pinochet sells medals to pay expenses

FORMER Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has been selling some of the medals and diplomatic decorations he received in his political and military career to pay for personal expenses, a Chilean daily newspaper reported yesterday.

Pinochet, 90, is facing economic difficulties because the judge investigating the source of his multi- million pound bank accounts abroad ordered his money frozen, El Mercurio reported.

He has not been able to pay the electricity bill for one of his houses for several months, the paper added.

A spokesman for Pinochet, retired General Guillermo Garin, expressed doubts about the report that Mr Pinochet had been selling the items.

“I do not think that’s true,” Mr Garin said.

According to El Mercurio, wealthy businessmen who are admirers of Pinochet have bought the former general’s memorabilia to help him.

Pinochet receives a monthly pension of about €4,200.

Judge Carlos Cerda, who is trying to determine the source of up to €22.35 million the former dictator accumulated in secret bank accounts abroad, indicted Pinochet on tax evasion charges and ordered his money to be frozen while the probe develops.