Pinochet faces tax fraud charges

Chile's Supreme Court stripped former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution yesterday so he can face charges of tax fraud involving an estimated $US27 million ($39 million) in offshore accounts. The decision upholds a lower court ruling.

Pinochet, who is 89 and ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 after a military coup, has been stripped of his presidential immunity from prosecution in a handful of human rights cases but has not had to face the charges because his lawyers have successfully argued he was too ill for a criminal trial.