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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Government Secrecy : Latin America : Political-Economy : Regime : Right Wing |
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THE SECRET PINOCHET PORTFOLIO: Former Dictator's Corruption Scandal Broadens |
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18 Mar 2005
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Under the Freedom of
Information Act, the National Security Archive has requested the
declassification of these documents from the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency (OCC). But the OCC, which is implicated in the Pinochet
financial scandal for its failure to monitor his illicit transactions at
Riggs, has refused to release any of the documentation, even though the
Senate Subcommittee has already published hundreds of pages of banking
records related to Pinochet's accounts. |
Washington, D.C., March 15, 2005 - Washington D.C.: The National
Security Archive tonight posted key documents released on March 15 by
the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland
Security and Government Affairs showing conclusively that former Chilean
dictator Augusto Pinochet had used multiple aliases and false
identification to maintain over 125 secret bank accounts at the Riggs
National Bank and eight other financial institutions in the United
States. In a review of banking records, Senate investigators found ten
false names used by Pinochet to disguise his accounts, among them Daniel
Lopez, A.P. Ugarte and Jose Pinochet. Records obtained from the Riggs
Bank and Citibank showed that Pinochet presented falsified passports
under the names of Augusto Ugarte and Jose Ramon Ugarte for account
identification.
In their investigation into money laundering, foreign corruption and
inadequate enforcement of banking rules to fight terrorism, the staff of
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) has obtained thousands of internal banking
records, among them confidential memoranda, emails, accounting reports,
and even private letters from Riggs officials to General Pinochet. Many
of these documents are cited in their "Staff Report on U.S. accounts
used by Augusto Pinochet" released today. Under the Freedom of
Information Act, the National Security Archive has requested the
declassification of these documents from the Office of the Comptroller
of the Currency (OCC). But the OCC, which is implicated in the Pinochet
financial scandal for its failure to monitor his illicit transactions at
Riggs, has refused to release any of the documentation, even though the
Senate Subcommittee has already published hundreds of pages of banking
records related to Pinochet's accounts.
http://www.nsarchive.org
________________________________________________________
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental
research institute and library located at The George Washington
University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes
declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S.
government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and
donations from foundations and individuals. |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
