IPS-English CORRUPTION-CHILE: Pinochet's Family in Jail Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:43:11 -0700 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. ***** + Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos - in Spanish ( http://www.afdd.cl) + CHILE: Pinochet, Never Convicted in Court, Dead at 91 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35791) (END/IPS/LA HD IF CS CU /TRASP-SW/DE/07) = 10050253 ORP004 NNNN