abstrak:By Esteban Medel SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Exequiel Hinojosas father was saving up to buy a house in the 1960s and 70s and managed to save up almost 140,000 pesos, about $163 now, meticulously detailed in a bankbook of a now defunct credit union.
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pSANTIAGO Reuters – Exequiel Hinojosas father was saving up to buy a house in the 1960s and 70s and managed to save up almost 140,000 pesos, about 163 now, meticulously detailed in a bankbook of a now defunct credit union. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv
pAfter his father‘s death the book remained stored away in a box for decades until Hinojosa found it among his father’s belongings. Similar bankbooks have been found to be worthless, but Hinojosas has an annotation reading “state guaranteed.”p
pWith interest and inflation, the 140,000 pesos are now estimated to be worth over 1 billion pesos, or nearly 1.2 million. p
pThis has caused a substantial headache for the state and Hinojosa, as the case has made it all the way to supreme court.p
p“That money is our family‘s. He saved it by working really hard,” Hinojosa said, adding that the family didn’t even know the bankbook existed until they found it.p
p“I never thought this process would turn into a kind of lawsuit towards the state,” he added. p
pMultiple courts have ruled in favor of Hinojosa, but the government has appealed every step of the way. Now a final court of appeals will decide the fate of the milliondollar bankbook.p
p“If the justice system, the supreme court, the court of appeals rule in my favor, all thats left to fix the problem is paying what is due, nothing more, nothing less,” Hinojosa said. p
p
pp Reporting by Reuters TV Writing by Alexander Villegas Editing by Sandra Malerp
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