Reply #5: CNN: Bank targeted over Pinochet funds

[Snazzy]

Bank targeted over Pinochet funds
From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Posted: 1851 GMT (0251 HKT)



Pinochet seized power in Chile in 1973 in a coup and ruled until 1990.

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish judge is being urged to charge a U.S. bank for concealing millions of dollars belonging to former Chilean dicator Augustus Pinochet despite a court order freezing his assets worldwide.

A Spanish lawyer representing alleged victims of Pinochet's regime made the request last week to Baltasar Garzon after a U.S. Senate report on July 15 concluded Riggs Bank had helped Pinochet "evade legal proceedings related to his Riggs bank accounts."

Judge Garzon in 1998 issued an arrest warrant for Pinochet, along with an order freezing his assets. He was expected to rule this week on the new request, said the lawyer, Juan Garces.

Garces told CNN that if Garzon agrees to proceed, it could result in the Spanish government formally asking the U.S. Department of Justice to press charges against Riggs Bank and its top executives allegedly involved in the money laundering.

....

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/27/spain.pinochet/