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Former president Alberto Fujimori
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November 29, 2000, 08:45
A Peruvian special prosecutor has said there appears to be enough evidence of criminal activity
to justify a broad investigation into ousted president Alberto Fujimori's dealings with a former close adviser.
"Enough evidence has begun to appear to merit at least a preliminary investigation" into Fujimori's
involvement with Vladimiro Montesinos, his fugitive former close aide and ex-National Intelligence Service chief prosecutor, Jose Ugaz said.
He added that inquiries were already underway into Panamanian companies, also linked to Montesinos, that may have been used to settle Fujimori family credit card bills.
But Fujimori, speaking to Newsweek in an exclusive
Web interview, dismissed the allegations.
"I don't have any money in a bank, in any bank account, outside of Peru. In my 62 years of life, even when I was a student in the United States, I didn't have a bank account.
"I have nothing at all, no shares, no stocks," he told the publication from a hotel room in Tokyo, where he fled as scandal erupted within his administration in Peru.
Ugaz is a prominent human rights lawyer,appointed
by Fujimori when he was president to head an investigation into alleged corruption by Montesinos, Fujimori's right-hand man for much of his 10-year rule.
Ugaz said his office was looking into allegations that Fujimori had secret financial dealings with Pablo Escobar, the late Medellin drug cartel leader whose brother Roberto Escobar Gaviria has said given Montesinos $1 million dollars for Fujimori's 1990 campaign with Fujimori's full knowledge.
Montesinos has been accused of money laundering and corruption, and if a link regarding the alleged crimes can be made between Fujimori and his former aide, the ex-president could be slapped
with an international arrest warrant, Ugaz said.
"That would link Fujimori to Montesinos in money laundering deals and corruption," the special prosecutor said.
Fujimori, the Peruvian-born son of Japanese immigrants, arrived in Tokyo on November 17, from where he submitted a letter of resignation to the Peruvian legislature on November 20. Congress rejected it, instead sacking Fujimori for "moral incapacity." - Sapa-AFP
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