PINOCHET’S SECRET FORTUNE OFFICIALLY TIED TO CHILE’S ARMS SALES

Investigators In Huber Murder Seek Information from Riggs Bank Case

Chilean government prosecutors officially linked former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s secret fortune to illegal commissions and bribes he received from military weapons sales that took place while he was the commander in chief of Chile’s army.

In a presentation before the Supreme Court last Thursday, María Teresa Muñoz, prosecutor for the Metropolitan Region of the State Defense Council (CDE), presented evidence linking Pinochet’s secret bank accounts to Chilean weapons sales.

The move comes after more than a year of investigations into a complex scheme first brought to light by a U.S. Senate money laundering report accusing the Washington, D.C.-based Riggs Bank of helping the former dictator launder between US$4 and $8 million (ST, July 16, 2004). Since the report was made public, Chilean prosecutors have discovered totals of over US$26 million more in various secret bank accounts, offshore holdings companies located in the Cayman and Virgin Islands, and multiple Swiss bank accounts.

In a presentation on October 6 to defense and plaintiffs’ attorneys, Judge Sergio Muñoz gave a detailed explanation of the findings in the Riggs Bank case so far, leading to the CDE’s allegations last Thursday (ST, Oct 10).

In a separate but related military investigation into the 1992 murder of Colonel Gerardo Huber, former Chief of Acquisitions for the Army, Judge Claudio Pavez, the lead investigator in the military case, requested information from Judge Muñoz regarding bank accounts opened in the name of Gerardo Huber and his widow, Adriana Polloni, in the New York branch of the Banco de Chile.

The U.S. government fined the Banco de Chile US$3 million last Wednesday for aiding Pinochet in laundering his illegal fortune. The bank is owned by Andronico Luksic, an influential Chilean businessman who has made headlines recently after a Peruvian court issued an international arrest warrant against him for his part in bribing officials in former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori’s administration (ST, Oct. 13).

The military investigation led by Judge Pavez is trying to close in on those responsible for the murder of Col. Huber 13 years ago. It is now clear that the murder was related to an illegal arms sales to Croatia in 1991. Sources working with investigators said that Arturo Silva, former member of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DINE) as well as the man indicted for the 1995 kidnapping/murder of Eugenio Berrios (a Pinochet-era secret police chemist believed to have developed the lethal sarin gas) was questioned last Friday about a possible connection between the modus operandi of Huber’s murder and that of Berrios’.

Berrios was one of a number of former Pinochet-era men smuggled out of Chile in the years after the transition to democracy. Most disappeared immediately after being subpoenaed or indicted for crimes committed during the 17-year military regime. While some, such as Pinochet’s oldest son Augusto Jr., reappeared unscathed, many, like Berrios, were never seen alive again.

In Jan of 1992, Col. Huber was questioned by then-lead investigator Hernan Carrea about his role in an illegal weapons sale to Croatia. In the interview, Huber implicated Gen. Carlos Krumm, a high-ranking military official at the time, as the man responsible for ordering him to begin work on the illegal arms exportation. Following this interview Col. Huber was called to testify before a special tribunal investigating the crime but disappeared one week after speaking to Carrera. Huber’s body was found three weeks later floating in the Maipo River outside of Santiago.

As Pavez continues his investigation into the murder of Col. Huber, other mysterious deaths are resurfacing as possibly linked to the cover-up of the illegal arms sale.

Carrera himself died suddenly in a military hospital, 11 months after Huber’s death. He was replaced by Judge Ricardo Galvez, now a member of Chile’s Supreme Court, who closed the investigation shortly after Carrera’s death.

Blas Meriño, Col. Huber’s former chauffeur, also died unexpectedly after reportedly committing suicide inside his car in August of 1995. Judge Pavez has reopened the case after learning that the pistol Meriño reportedly killed himself with was found in the passenger seat of his car. Those close to Meriño say he was left-handed and would probably not have used his right hand to commit suicide.

Officials hope to learn more about the perpetrators of Col. Huber’s murder by studying records gleaned from investigations into the Riggs Bank case. Chile’s Supreme Court is due to decide whether or not to strip Gen. Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution in the Riggs Bank case this week, which may help shed light on the other crimes surrounding the weapons sales.