Riggs and Pinochet - The Latest

Here's a roundup of the latest in the English language press regarding the Pinochet-Riggs Bank investigation.

The Miami Herald reports that his traditional allies have been distancing themselves from Pinochet:

The revelation of the Riggs bank accounts, found by U.S. officials who investigated the bank's records, appears to have been the final straw that has silenced traditional supporters in Chile and left the general isolated.

Even the previously loyal head of the army, Gen. Juan Emilio Cheyre, declared that the Riggs accounts were a personal matter and the military would cooperate with investigators.

Pinochet is left with a small group of defenders that includes his family, close friends and lawyers.

His youngest son, Marco Antonio, went on radio to declare his father's innocence, saying the money had come from 60 years of hard work and political donations.

The explanation was greeted largely with disbelief, and further undermined by Marco Antonio's earlier claims that his father held no such foreign bank accounts. [my emphasis]

If you are going to lie, remember to be consistent.

Hugh O'Shaughnessy in The Observer cites the Senate report on Riggs

It reports that it 'opened at least six accounts and issued several certificates of deposit (CDs) for Augusto Pinochet, former President of Chile, while he was under house arrest in the United Kingdom and his assets were the subject of court proceedings ... altered the names of his personal accounts to disguise their ownership; transferred $1.6m from London to the United States while Pinochet was in detention and the subject of a court order to attach his bank accounts... and delivered over $1.9m in cashiers' checks to Pinochet in Chile to enable him to obtain substantial cash payments from banks in that country.'

and points out that Pinochet's salary in his final year as Commander of Chile's armed forces was a whopping $10,057 adding to the mystery as to how he could accumulate so much money in such a short time.

CNN is reporting that Judge Baltasar Garzón, whose investigation of Pinochet lead to his arrest in London in 1998, is being urged to seek charges against Riggs Bank for its efforts in concealing Pinochet's assets when Garzón had issued an order freezing those assets:

Judge Garzon in 1998 issued an arrest warrant for Pinochet, along with an order freezing his assets. He was expected to rule this week on the new request, said the lawyer, Juan Garces.

Garces told CNN that if Garzon agrees to proceed, it could result in the Spanish government formally asking the U.S. Department of Justice to press charges against Riggs Bank and its top executives allegedly involved in the money laundering.

"Pinochet 1 was about torture and crimes against humanity," Garces said, referring to earlier unsuccessful efforts to try Pinochet for genocide and torture. "Pinochet 2 is about the money the criminal made and hid.

"It's the same case, in two facets, and in both, the key is international judicial cooperation," Garces said.

The last word I'll leave to MercoPress:

"With a General’s income there is no way you can accumulate that money", said Edmundo Pérez-Yoma, Defence minister of the previous Chilean coalition government. "The image and standing of the Chilean Armed Forces has been greatly affected" insisted Mr. Perez-Yoma.

"Almost everybody believed that in spite of its excesses and defects Mr. Pinochet government was rather clean, almost corruption free, and if this proves to be not true, one of the last myths will have disappeared."

As I've said before, I don't expect Pinochet to ever do time, but I will be content if his place in history continues to be revealed to be as monstrous as the man was and is.