<<pile of gold>> in my neighborhood, where it is considered money, stored at a familiar bank ... fresh off the press
scmp.com
Thursday, October 26, 2006
US$160m of Pinochet's gold said to be in an HK bank vault
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Santiago and TIM LEEMASTER
Chile believes it has unearthed a huge stash of gold belonging to deposed dictator Augusto Pinochet in a Hong Kong bank. Newspaper reports said the gold - amounting to more than 1,000 ingots - is worth US$160 million.
The Chilean government said it had passed the information to a court investigating Pinochet's assets abroad. It did not name the bank, but Chilean daily El Mercurio said the gold was held by HSBC.
Chilean government-owned daily La Nacion said the South American nation had requested the gold be secured in Hong Kong to prevent it falling into the disgraced former leader's hands.
Last night Richard Lindsay, chief press officer in London for HSBC Holdings, said: "HSBC will, of course, comply with any request from any government or regulator with whom we work.
"However, we have yet to be notified by any organisation that there are funds lodged with HSBC related to the former leader of Chile that they are investigating."
Asked about the reports, Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley told a radio station: "We received information through one of our diplomatic missions abroad several days ago."
Mr Foxley said the information, which included photocopies of documents, "is not official yet".
A spokesman for Pinochet, 91, retired general Guillermo Garin, said he had no information about the alleged deposit at HSBC.
"I have no doubt that this report has no real basis at all," he said.
Pinochet's chief defence lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, said: "The only gold General Pinochet owns is his wedding ring."
The discovery is part of an investigation into Pinochet's fortune abroad that began more than two years ago after a US Senate investigative committee disclosed that the former ruler held millions of dollars at the Riggs Bank in Washington.
Until yesterday's disclosure, Pinochet's bank assets abroad had been estimated at US$28 million. Mr Rodriguez and other associates of Pinochet have insisted the money comes from legitimate sources.
Pinochet, who ruled with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990, is under investigation for tax evasion and fraud and his role in mass disappearances of dissidents and rivals.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
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