The court has charged him with responsibility for human rights abuses at a secret prison, where Chile's current president and her monther were among those held. The specific crimes:

• One homicide.
  

• 35 kidnappings.
  

• 24 cases of torture.
  

Chilean human rights advocates believe tens of thousands of citizens that had political differences with the far-right dictatorship were arrested and tortured. Approximately 3000 individuals were killed, or disappeared, during Pinochet's brutal reign.

This arrest comes on the heels of a major flap over the general's alleged ownership of $160m, of gold bullion in a Hong Kong bank. Verification of the facts are not yet in, and attorneys for the former dictator, and the bank involved, are vigorously denying its truth.

Fatal attraction.
Pinochet will be remembered for the fact that the exposure of the extent of his relationship with a prominent Washington financial institution, Riggs bank, in large part led to the bank's demise. An improper relationship between the bank and the president of Equatorial Guinea, which led to the flight of the responsible account representative, also contributed to the bank's problems. The Riggs case will long be studied by compliance officers as examples of what not to do with in dealing with PEPs.

 The true threat posed by corrupt Politically Exposed Persons, or PEPs, was not realised by the American compliance community until it saw that the consequences of banking illicit PEP funds could be fatal. As a direct result, Source of Funds, Source of Wealth, and client income are now much more closely examined when banking present or former government officials, or senior military officers.