Pinochet’s daughter freed on bail in tax fraud case

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) – The oldest daughter of former
dictator Augusto Pinochet was released on bail in a tax evasion
case on Monday, two days after she returned home and withdrew a
bid for political asylum in the United States.

A Santiago appeals court freed Lucia Pinochet Hiriart on
$6,000 bail, court officials said.

Pinochet Hiriart, 60, arrived in Chile on Saturday, nearly
a week after fleeing her country to avoid tax charges. She had
flown to Washington, where she was detained. She requested
political asylum but later withdrew the request.

A Chilean judge has charged her with tax fraud linked to
about $1 million in undeclared taxes and falsification of
documents in a widening tax evasion and fraud investigation of
the Pinochet family.

Prosecutors are investigating allegations Pinochet and his
family hid millions of dollars outside of Chile.

The former general was charged last year with tax evasion
on an estimated $27 million in previously undisclosed foreign
bank accounts, which came to light after a U.S. Senate
investigation into banking irregularities at the now-defunct
Washington-based Riggs Bank.

Also on Monday, Switzerland said it moved closer to
agreeing to a Chilean request for help in investigating bank
accounts held by 90-year-old Pinochet.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said the ministry had handed
Chile’s request for assistance to the Swiss Federal Tribunal,
the country’s highest court, which will decide whether to set
aside banking secrecy.

Spokesman Folco Galli called the move “a small step” in a
process that began last March when a Chilean court requested
Swiss bank details for their investigation into possible fraud,
embezzlement and corruption.

Pinochet took power in Chile in a 1973 military coup that
toppled elected socialist President Salvador Allende.

(Additional reporting by Tom Armitage in Zurich)