Posted on 08/10/2005 4:56:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SANTIAGO, Chile - Gen. Augusto Pinochet's wife and younger son were arrested Wednesday and charged as accomplices in a tax evasion case linked to an investigation into the former dictator's multimillion dollar fortune overseas.
Lucia Hiriart, 82, and Marco Antonio Pinochet, who is in his 50s, were charged after being questioned by Judge Sergio Munoz, whose probe into the former dictator's overseas holdings was sparked by a U.S. Senate investigation.
Gen. Augusto Pinochet issued a communique denying any wrongdoing but also taking "full responsibility for the facts being investigated" by the judge, and "denying any participation whatsoever by my wife, my children, my closest advisers."
Hiriart, who doctors say suffers from severe headaches and high blood pressure, was being held at the Santiago Military Hospital, while her son will be detained in a special prison for white collar criminals. Her older son, Augusto, said his mother was innocent and the charge "is like a shot in the head."
Government spokesman Osvaldo Puccio said the decision "shows that nobody in Chile is above the law." He declined further comment.
The ailing, 89-year-old former dictator arrived at the hospital by mid-afternoon to visit his wife and was seen stepping out of his armored Mercedes to be wheeled inside the heavily guarded facility.
In his statement, Pinochet said "if the judge wants to jail someone, to pass judgment on a part of Chile's history, it should be me, not innocent people."
The Pinochet family's lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez said Hiriart had nothing to do with her husband's finances and he would appeal the charges. Pinochet, who ruled Chile between 1973-90, had been stripped of his immunity in the bank accounts case by an appeals court. Munoz, however, has yet to indict him, apparently because an appeal on the immunity issue is pending before the Supreme Court.
In his communique, Pinochet explained his foreign accounts by saying that "for reasons of prudence, because I knew I would be the target of persecution and political harassment, I delivered to professional international institutions the savings of my entire life. If some tax difference occurred, my advisers have paid every thing that was owed."
The case is one of several against Pinochet. Most recently, he was charged in the 1975 killing of dissidents in a case known as Operation Colombo. His regime said Marxist groups were behind the killings.
Munoz's investigation was launched after a U.S. Senate investigative committee last year disclosed that Pinochet deposited million at the Riggs Bank in Washington. Munoz already has charged Pinochet's secretary Monica Ananias and a former aide, Oscar Aitken, in the case.
He estimates that Pinochet squirreled away up to $27 million in a number of banks abroad and owes roughly $9.8 million dollars in back taxes. Munoz said Pinochet's wife has not filed a tax return since 1998.
In court Wednesday, Munoz ruled that Hiriart can go free on a $3,500 bond if it is approved by the Santiago Court of Appeals. A similar condition applies to her son's bail, though that amount was not disclosed. The appeals court was expected to rule on the issue later this week.
Rodriguez and other Pinochet associates have offered to pay the back-taxes but also insist the family's fortune is the result of fiscal prudence and sound investments.
Former Chilean leader Gen. Augusto Pinochet with his wife Lucia Hiriart is seen while receiving members of the Chilean Congress at the entrance of his house in the outskirts of Santiago, Chile in this Aug. 9, 2000 file photo. Lucia Hiriart and younger son of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Marco Antonio, were indicted and arrested Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005, as accomplices of the former Chilean dictator on tax evasion, court officials said. (AP Photo/Juan Carlos Caceres, file)
Prison guards escort Marco Antonio Pinochet, center, younger son of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, after being detained in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005. The young Pinochet and his mother Lucia Hiriart were indicted and arrested as accomplices of the former dictator on tax evasion. (AP Photo/La Tercera, Andres Diaz) MANDATORY CREDIT LA TERCERA
He's going to be 90 later this year.
They need to get over it.
He should wear a t-shirt that says, "I saved Chile from becoming a Communist hellhole and all I get are indictments." When are we going to indict the REAL enemies of humanity ? Castro ? Chavez ? Harry Belafonte ?
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