Chile court: only 10 percent of $21 million Pinochet fortune legally justified

Chile: 90 percent of Pinochet fortune dubious

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s late dictator amassed a fortune of $21 million, of which less than 10 percent is justified by his military salary.

That’s the conclusion of a University of Chile study ordered up by the country’s Supreme Court to support an investigation into allegations of illegal enrichment.

Lawyers for dictatorship victims said Friday that the study supports allegations Pinochet took bribes or commissions from weapons sales.

The government began probing Pinochet’s wealth two years in 2004 after secret U.S. bank accounts were discovered. For this and for human rights violations, Pinochet was under house arrest when he died in 2006.