Lawyers for Augusto Pinochet yesterday dismissed as a smear campaign reports that assets belonging to the former Chilean leader had been frozen in Bermuda and said he had no bank accounts outside Chile.

Standard Life also categorically denied that the former Chilean dictator or any members of his family or any of his associates have any assets with their company or its Bermuda subsidiary.

The assets of the military strong man had been frozen in Bermuda following a request by the Spanish judiciary.

The Foreign Office in London received a request to have the assets frozen which was passed on to Bermuda on Friday.

A writ was filed then in the Supreme Court by the Deputy Governor against the Attorney General of Bermuda, Freisenbruch-Meyer Insurance Services Ltd. and their subsidiary Harnett & Richardson Ltd., and assets were frozen over the weekend.

The writ cites an "Anton Pillar'', a type of order to freeze assets, in connection with Pinochet as part of a request from both the Spanish judiciary and the Foreign Office.

"There is no account in the Bermudas or anywhere else,'' said Pinochet's defence lawyer, Jose Maria Eyzaguirre.

Rumours are attempt to sully Gen. Pinochet's reputation say lawyers "This is without doubt part of the campaign to try and sully General Pinochet and the armed forces,'' he added.

In the United Kingdom, documents were filed on April 20 by a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, in a bid to have Pinochet's assets frozen.

In 1998 Garzon failed to have Pinochet extradited from Britain to stand trial in Spain for his alleged involvement in political killings and human rights abuses during his 17-year rule.

The alleged torture and human rights abuses took place during his iron-fisted 1973-1990 military regime.

Bermuda's Deputy Governor, Tim Gurney, said on Monday unspecified assets had been frozen over the weekend in response to a request from the Spanish judiciary via Britain's Foreign Office, but would give no further details.

The Royal Gazette learned that in a letter to the Bermuda Attorney General, dated April 20, Garzon demanded that any insurance contracts that may be held by Pinochet in the Bermuda subsidiary of Standard Life be blocked.

The judge in the letter suggested that the office may be a possible home of investments of Pinochet.

The letter does not explain on what basis the Spanish judge believes that Standard Life in Bermuda has a connection with Pinochet or his family.

A "Rogarty Letter'' was issued by Spain's Central Court of Investigation and sent to the Bermuda Attorney General. These letters are used by justice authorities to obtain financial information or initiate legal action in other countries.

The letter calls for "the embargo, blockage and deposit of the balances associated with insurance policies or insurance contracts of any nature, including bank accounts and/or deposits, shares of investment funds and certificates of deposit, owned by Augusto Pinochet Ugarte either directly or through third persons, and those that his family may have in Bermuda.'' The Rogarty Letter names the offices of Standard Life Canada offices in Montreal, the Standard Life branch office in Bermuda and the subsidiary of the company at Front Street in Hamilton.

The Foreign Office confirmed it had received a Rogarty Letter from Judge Garzon.

Freisenbruch-Meyer is the manager of Standard Life in Bermuda, but is a branch office of the Canadian Standard Life, which is run by the global headquarters in Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.

A four-page letter was also sent to the Canadian Federal Department of Justice, where Judge Garzon asked the Canadian government to assist in "the embargo, blockage and deposit of the balances associated with insurance policies or insurance contracts of any nature, including bank accounts and/or deposits, shares of investment funds, and certificates of deposit'' owned by Pinochet either "directly or indirectly or through third persons''.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for Standard Life in Edinburgh denied the company had any involvement with Pinochet, his family or his associates.

She said that in an investigation of this scale a number of larger companies would be blanket targeted for assets.

She said: "Standard Life has undergone an in depth internal revue, and I can confirm categorically there is no connection with Pinochet, his family or anyone associated with him. The matter is now closed.'' She said nothing in Standard Life had been frozen, either in Bermuda or elsewhere in the company.

"If a company had assets belonging to Pinochet, they would have been frozen by the order,'' she added. "There are no assets within Standard Life belonging to Pinochet.'' According to Judge Garzon's missive, documentation is also requested from two other unknown insurance companies operating in Bermuda that may hold assets on behalf of the former Chilean dictator.

The letter sent to Bermudian authorities is believed to cite "the laws and regulations intended to combat illicit financial transactions,'' among them, those that "oblige insurance agents and insurance management companies to follow the `know your client' rule'''.

According to this stipulation, financial services companies operating in Bermuda are required to know the identities of the registered owners of their accounts.