Pinochet To Face Tax Evasion Charges

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

21 October 2005

Chile's former military dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, has been stripped of immunity from prosecution and now faces charges of tax fraud totalling $27 million.

The ruling by Chile's Supreme Court is in connection with an investigation into foreign bank accounts held by Pinochet and members of his family in several countries, including the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Columbia, Germany, Panama, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The charges include tax evasion, filing false returns and using false passports to open accounts abroad.

According to documents filed in a Chilean court in July, Pinochet, who seized power in a coup in 1973 and ruled until 1990, and his family were accused of hiding up to $17 million in more than 100 foreign accounts, many of which were held under false names.

However, it remains uncertain, given the 89-year-old Pinochet's failing health, whether he will actually stand trial for the charges laid against him. The former leader has has his immunity from prosecution removed on previous occasions, only for his defence team to argue successfully that he is unfit to stand trial on health grounds.

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