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 News from Around the Americas | January 2006 
Pinochet Daughter Detained in US
 BBC News
| | Gen Pinochet's wife was granted bail on Tuesday. |
Lucia Pinochet, the eldest daughter of Chile's ex military ruler, has been detained in the US following a warrant for her arrest, Chilean officials say.
On Monday, Ms Pinochet and four other family members were charged with tax evasion. They deny any wrongdoing.
But Ms Pinochet failed to respond to a legal summons and a warrant was issued after it was found she had crossed the border into Argentina.
Gen Augusto Pinochet is already facing tax fraud and human rights charges.
The courts have stripped him of the legal immunity he enjoys as a former president in several cases, but he has yet to face trial.
Secret accounts
Ms Pinochet, 64, was detained at an airport in Washington. She is reported to have been travelling from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles.
She is said to have driven from Chile to Argentina on Sunday, the same day that reports about the possible arrest of the four Pinochet siblings and their mother appeared in the press.
According to the Chilean tax office, Lucia Pinochet has evaded US$859,000 (£480,000) in taxes.
Three of her siblings and her mother have been granted bail in the same case.
One of her brothers, Marco Antonio, described the charges - which also include the use of false passports - as "political persecution" against the Pinochet family.
The investigation into the family's finances began in 2004, after a US Senate probe into Riggs Bank found that General Pinochet held secret accounts there.
Further investigations found that the former ruler held about US$26m in foreign accounts.
He is accused of failing to pay nearly US$2.5m in taxes between 1980 and 2004, and is also being investigated for embezzlement of state funds. |
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