The wife and all five children of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet were arrested Monday on charges of tax evasion as part of a broader investigation into tax fraud and secret foreign bank accounts.
Court sources said Judge Carlos Cerda ordered the arrest of Pinochet’s wife, Lucia Hiriart, and all of their children on charges of filing “maliciously incomplete” and false tax declarations related to millions of dollars.
Among the children first arrested were Marco Antonio, Pinochet’s youngest son, Lucia, Jacqueline and Veronica. In separate charges revealed in a later document, his eldest son Augusto was arrested for falsification of official documents.
Cerda also ordered the arrests of Monica Ananias and Oscar Aitken, a personal secretary of Pinochet and the former executor of Pinochet’s will.
Pinochet’s family will be detained until Tuesday at least, when an appeals court will decide whether or not to grant them bail.
Pinochet was charged last year with evading taxes on an estimated $27 million he hid in foreign accounts.
Observers say Pinochet, 90, may end up facing prosecution for tax crimes before any of the human rights charges that have mounted against him but in which he has escaped prosecution for health reasons.
Pinochet’s wife and youngest son were previously indicted as accomplices in tax evasion, accused of using false documents and passports to help move the money among secret accounts.
His wife was briefly detained, and his son Marco Antonio Pinochet was jailed for a few weeks in August until he was released on bail.
