Chilean investigators were examining reports this week that nine tonnes of gold had been found in a Hong Kong bank under the name of Augusto Pinochet. The gold, valued at $160-million, was found during an ongoing investigation into tax evasion and money laundering by the former dictator.
Alexandro Foxley, the Chilean Foreign Minister, said the information was being analysed swiftly in order to have embargo orders issued “very quickly”. The authorities are seeking to prevent Pinochet getting access to the gold if the reports prove to be true.
Pinochet (91), who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, is under investigation for alleged human rights violations and financial crimes.
Chilean press reports said the three cubic metres of gold is being held in an HSBC warehouse. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory’s de facto central bank, said it would investigate the reports. If they turn out to be true, the gold will take Pinochet’s estimated fortune to more than $200-million, mostly held in more than 100 bank accounts under the names of his wife, children and advisers.
Pinochet advisers and his lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, argue that the money comes from savings and wise investments, but a Chilean government investigation ruled that the Pinochet fortune was obtained illegally.
Two years ago, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered HSBC to turn over information about accounts held by the Pinochet family. In the past week the Chilean Supreme Court authorised Garzon to interrogate Pinochet, his wife, Lucia, and top aides in a money laundering investigation. The judge is investigating how the former dictator evaded a 1998 order that froze his assets. — Â