A Chilean appeals court stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution Friday so he can face new charges for abuse of funds in a $27 million tax fraud case.
Judges from the Santiago Court of Appeals voted 21-3 to strip the retired general of his immunity for a second time in charges related to millions of dollars he allegedly hid in foreign bank accounts.
He can appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Chilean courts must decide on a charge-by-charge basis whether to strip Pinochet of his immunity — a privilege of former presidents.
In October, Pinochet was stripped of immunity to face other charges in the tax fraud case, including tax evasion, falsification of documents and false declarations of properties.
The secret Pinochet accounts have had repercussions for at least two banks.
Riggs Bank, based in Washington, pleaded guilty to a criminal violation of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, and agreed to pay $16 million for failing to report suspicious activity in Pinochet’s accounts. Riggs was subsequently acquired by another bank.
And the New York and Miami branches of Banco de Chile, Chile’s No. 2 bank, were fined $3 million for inadequate anti-money-laundering programs.
The legal cases against Pinochet are gaining momentum and he lost a key appeal before the Supreme Court Monday that could see him face charges for the disappearance of leftists during his 1973-1990 regime.
Pinochet, 90, has avoided being processed in a handful of human rights cases because of his health problems, which include mild dementia caused by frequent mini-strokes.
