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Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's eldest daughter returned to South America Saturday, after dropping her request for asylum in the United States where she had fled to avoid tax evasion charges.
Lucia Pinochet Hiriart arrived in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires at 10:01 am (1301 GMT) aboard a United Airlines flight from Washington and was awaiting a connecting flight to Santiago, airport police said.
On Wednesday, Pinochet Hiriart, 64, was detained and denied entry at Washington's Dulles airport upon arriving from Argentina. After 12 hours of questioning, she requested political asylum.
She was stopped after failing to respond to a summons from a Chilean judge to be formally charged with tax evasion linked to secret accounts kept by her father.
On Monday, Chilean Judge Carlos Cerda pressed charges against Pinochet Hiriart for tax evasion to the tune of 860,000 dollars and the use of false passports.
The former dictator's wife and three of their other children -- Marco Antonio, Jacqueline and Veronica -- are also charged in the case, and all face prison sentences if found guilty.
All of the Pinochets, save the eldest son, Augusto, have now been charged over the secret accounts and allegations of tax evasion.
The aging ex-dictator, now 90, and his family are believed to have had 27 million dollars in secret overseas bank accounts in the United States, Switzerland and Panama.
The family patriarch also faces a barrage of lawsuits, mainly seeking his prosecution over rights abuses committed under his iron-fisted 1973-1990 rule.
Pinochet Hiriart's Chilean lawyer on Friday urged her to return to Santiago.
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AFP 281354 GMT 01 06
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