Chile's Attorney General's office said Wednesday that former dictator Augusto Pinochet could be initially accused of "money laundering" for the secret bank accounts attributed to him in a US bank.

Clara Szczaranski, president of Chile's Defense Council (CDE), an autonomous agency in charge of the legal defense of the Chilean state's interest, said it would investigate the financial crimes.

"Unfortunately, the facts, at this point, appear just like money laundering, laundering of illegal money, according to the report from the United States," said the president, referring to areport by the US Senate that Pinochet had nearly 8 million US dollars in secret accounts at Riggs Bank between 1994 and 2002.

The Chilean court also assigned a special judge last Tuesday to determine the source of the funds held in the Riggs accounts.

US President George W. Bush promised a full investigation into the handling of the accounts following a meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos on Monday.

Pinochet's son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, told local Radio Agricultura that all the money was donated by Pinochet's supporters for the legal defense while he was under house arrest in London from October 1998 to April 2000, according to a warrant issued by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon.

Pinochet, 88, who took control of Chile by ousting constitutional President Salvador Allende in 1973, faces hundreds of charges of homicide, kidnapping and torture in Chile but none of corruption.

There have been several failed attempts to probe his finances by journalists or lawmakers since the 1980s.

Source: Xinhua

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