The eldest daughter of former dictator Augusto Pinochet was taken into custody today upon her return to Chile after seeking asylum in the United States to avoid tax charges.
A federal judge greeted Lucia Pinochet Hiriart (60) as she arrived from Buenos Aires, where she made a brief stopover after being sent back from Washington late Friday.
"Ms. Lucia, how nice that you've arrived, please come with me so that I can arraign you," Judge Carlos Cerda, who is handling the tax case against the Pinochet family, told her as she came off the plane
She had fled Chile for neighbouring Argentina by car on January 22nd, a day before her mother and four siblings were arrested on charges of tax evasion and fraud.
Shortly after Lucia Pinochet Hiriart withdrew her request for political asylum in the United States on Friday, US officials ordered her to return to Argentina - the last country she was in before she arrived in Washington on Wednesday saying she intended to seek asylum.
US officials did not say why she withdrew her asylum request.
A Chilean judge has indicted Ms Pinochet Hiriart with tax fraud in connection with an investigation into multimillion bank accounts secretly held by the Pinochet family outside of Chile for years. Dozens of Chilean officials, including Chile's ambassador in Buenos Aires, greeted her after she arrived at the airport. After a brief stopover, she changed planes to head home.
Ms Pinochet Hiriart (60) has been charged in Chile with tax fraud related to about $1 million in undeclared taxes and falsification of documents in a widening tax evasion and fraud investigation involving the Pinochet family. The accounts came to light after a US Senate investigation of banking irregularities at the now-defunct Riggs Bank, based in Washington.
Augusto Pinochet (90) took power in Chile in a 1973 military coup that toppled elected socialist President Salvador Allende. He has been blamed for the deaths of as many as 3,000 Chileans and torture of tens of thousands during his 17-year rule.
He was charged last year with evading taxes on an estimated $27 million hidden in foreign accounts and also faces charges on human rights abuses in dozens of cases.
Prosecutors say Pinochet and his family stashed millions of dollars in more than 100 bank accounts outside of Chile. Observers say he may end up facing prosecution for tax crimes before any of the human rights charges against him, since those charges are stalled in the courts because of his health.