Mar 12, 2009 11:59 am US/Eastern
Banks Sued For Allegedly Aiding Chile's Pinochet
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Four U.S. banks have been sued for allegedly aiding for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in stealing $26 million from his country.
The four lawsuits, filed Wednesday in Miami, seek damages from the banks. While the damages aren't specified, they would likely run into the tens of millions of dollars. The government lawsuits name Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc.; Spain's Banco Santander; Espirito Santo Bank of Portugal; and the Bank of Chile. In the case of the foreign banks, the lawsuits focus on transactions handled mainly by their Miami- or U.S.-based subsidiaries.
After seizing power in 1973, Pinochet was Chile's president until 1990; he was then the army's commander and senator until 2004. He died in 2006 at age 91.
The Chilean lawsuits allege Pinochet siphoned public money for personal use through a number of ways, including a government presidential security account, accounts opened in the names of Chilean military officers and commissions from various arms deals -- such as a late-1990s transaction involving the sale of German Leopard I tanks.
http://cbs4.com/local/augusto.pinochet.chile.2.957356.html