CORRUPTION-CHILE:
Pinochet’s Family in
Jail
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Oct 4 (IPS) -
A Chilean judge ordered
the arrest of the widow
of former dictator
General Augusto Pinochet
(1973-1990), his five
children, and 17 of his
closest civilian and
military associates on
corruption charges
Thursday.
The arrests were ordered
by Judge Carlos Cerda,
who is investigating the
so-called Riggs case,
named after a U.S. bank
where
multimillion-dollar
secret accounts were
found in the names of
Pinochet and his family
and friends.
Cerda’s decision "is a
welcome surprise,"
considering that "the
judiciary bent over
backwards to free the
former dictator, his
family and his circle of
close associates from
the enormous number of
lawsuits they face,"
Lorena Pizarro,
president of the
Association of Relatives
of the
Detained-Disappeared (AFDD),
told IPS.
"The justice system owes
a debt to Chile," said
the activist. She
praised Judge Cerda’s
"unquestionable ethics
and hard work" in this
and other cases, and
added that she hoped
other judges would
follow his example.
But people close to
Pinochet, who died in
December at the age of
91, and several
legislators from the
right-wing opposition
alliance, said the
judge’s verdict was an
attempt to divert
attention from the
waning popularity of
socialist President
Michelle Bachelet and
criticism of her
government -- an
argument that was
emphatically denied by
presidential spokesman
Ricardo Lagos Weber. In
Congress, legislators
from the Socialist
Party, which forms part
of the centre-left
ruling Coalition for
Democracy, sang the
national anthem to
celebrate the ruling.
"I finally have the
immense satisfaction of
seeing that we are
putting an end to the
impunity that has always
surrounded Pinochet and
his family," Socialist
Deputy Isabel Allende,
the daughter of late
former leftist president
Salvador Allende
(1970-1973), who was
overthrown by Pinochet
in a bloody coup on
Sept. 11, 1973, told a
local radio station.
Bachelet said no one is
above the law in Chile,
a statement that was
reaffirmed later by
Justice Minister Carlos
Maldonado, who said the
government would adopt
no special measures in
favour of Pinochet’s
family and associates.
In August 2004, an
investigation by a U.S.
Senate commission found
at least 125 secret
accounts belonging to
Pinochet and members of
his family in the Riggs
Bank in Washington and
financial institutions
in Europe and the
Caribbean.
An investigation was
immediately launched in
Chile, and the case was
assigned to Cerda in
October 2005.
In mid-2006, Pinochet’s
defence attorneys
accused Cerda of bias,
and he was removed from
the case for over a
year. But two weeks ago
the Supreme Court
dismissed the defence
lawyers’ legal action,
enabling the judge to
continue the inquiry.
On Thursday, he ordered
the arrest of 23 people
for misuse of public
funds, including
Pinochet’s widow, Lucía
Hiriart; his five
children -- Augusto,
Lucía, Verónica, Marco
Antonio and Jacqueline;
his former accountant
Oscar Aitken; his
long-time personal
secretary Mónica Ananías;
his former defence
lawyer Ambrosio
Rodríguez; and his
cousin Patricio
Madariaga, a former
consul to the United
States.
The military officers
who were arrested
included retired
generals Jorge Ballerino
and Guillermo Garín,
both of whom are close
to the Pinochet family,
and two active-duty
colonels, Juan Ricardo
Mac-Lean and Mortimer
Jofré.
The judge’s 55-page
ruling refers to more
than eight million
dollars in embezzled
funds, although 27
million dollars were
found in the secret
accounts abroad.
The judge said the money
was withdrawn from
discretional funds
allotted to the office
of the president and
army commander in chief
(a post held by Pinochet
from 1973 to 1998),
deposited in accounts
abroad and later brought
back into the country.
Cerda provided a
detailed description of
dates and banks where
accounts were opened and
closed, as well as
innumerable deposits and
transfers, and the uses
made of some of the
funds.
The misappropriated
public funds were turned
into real estate
property, construction
projects, and wages paid
to workers hired for
private projects by
Pinochet and those close
to him, says the
resolution.
They also went towards
agricultural endeavours,
support for relatives
and close associates,
books, statues and busts
of Napoleon Bonaparte,
tailor-made clothes, the
rental of tourist
cabins, clothing and
footwear, watches,
medical expenses,
kinesiologists, atlases,
pencils and other
personal uses, not
counting the funds left
in accounts abroad, the
resolution adds.
At the time of his
death, Pinochet was
facing charges of tax
evasion, forgery of
official documents and
use of fake passports,
and was under
investigation in
numerous human rights
cases. However, he was
never brought to trial,
as he repeatedly evaded
legal action due to his
supposed senility.
The women arrested will
be held at the Santiago
women’s prison located
in the district of San
Joaquín, on the south
side of the capital,
with the exception of
Pinochet’s 84-year-old
widow, who was taken to
the military hospital
because of health
problems.
The other civilians will
be held in two ordinary
prisons in the capital,
and the military
officers in armed forces
installations.
The chairman of the
Senate Human Rights
Committee, Socialist
Senator Jaime Naranjo,
said the ruling "is a
timely decision that
speaks well of Judge
Cerda in the sense that
he did not allow himself
to be intimidated by the
undue pressure aimed at
forcing him to leave the
case. We all know about
the efforts to drag this
process out."
Complaining of the speed
with which the judge
acted after more than a
year away from the case,
Lucía Hiriart’s lawyer,
Pablo Rodríguez Grez,
said he would turn to
the courts to have the
judge punished.
The accused plan to
appeal the charges and
arrest warrants against
them. |
