Gold stash linked to former dictator

? Former dictator Augusto Pinochet may have stashed millions of dollars in gold in a Hong Kong bank, the government said Wednesday. Newspapers put the total at some $160 million, but a lawyer and spokesman for the former Chilean dictator denied it.

The government of President Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured at a detention center during Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship, said it was investigating the reports.

Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said the Chilean government received information about the account “through one of our diplomatic missions abroad several days ago.” He said the information includes photocopies of documents, which were relayed to a judge and to the State Defense Council, an agency with the mission of defending the state’s interests.

The council said it was seeking to have the accounts allegedly linked to Pinochet frozen “in order to prevent the eventual sale of what may really exist in the deposit.”

Pinochet’s attorney denied the reports. “The only gold General Pinochet owns is his wedding ring,” lawyer Pablo Rodriguez said.