Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp yesterday denied media reports that it is holding US$160 million in gold deposits for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Vincent Cheng Hoi-chuen, the chairman of HSBC's Hong Kong operation, said the lender's preliminary investigation showed that it is not keeping the alleged deposits. An HSBC spokeswoman added: 'We have not been formally approached by the Chilean government and do not know what evidence they have.' She said HSBC would co-operate with Chile if it came to the lender for help on any investigation. The Chilean government has unearthed a huge hoard of gold belonging to deposed dictator Pinochet at a Hong Kong bank, according to various news agencies. Chilean daily El Mercurio said more than 1,000 ingots of the precious metal was kept under Pinochet's name in HSBC's Hong Kong warehouses. Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990, is being investigated for tax evasion and fraud and his role in mass disappearances of dissidents and political rivals. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Chilean consulate in Hong Kong declined to comment. Chilean government-owned daily La Nacion said the South American nation had requested the gold be secured in Hong Kong to prevent it falling into the disgraced former leader's hands. A spokesman for Pinochet, retired general Guillermo Garin, was quoted as saying he had no information on the alleged hoard. Pinochet's chief defence lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, said: 'The only gold Pinochet owns is his wedding ring.' The discovery is part of a probe into Pinochet's fortune abroad begun more than two years ago after a US Senate investigative committee disclosed he held millions of dollars at the Riggs Bank in Washington. Pinochet's bank assets abroad had been estimated at US$28 million. Mr Rodriguez and other Pinochet associates insist the money came from legitimate sources.