Peru Official Requests Criminal Investigation of Fujimori

A special investigator said Friday that he has asked the attorney general’s office to launch a criminal investigation of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for possible corruption.

Jose Ugaz--whom Fujimori appointed to investigate former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos--said he filed the request Thursday with Atty. Gen. Nelly Calderon.

Earlier, Calderon’s spokesman Marco Ceiza had confirmed that a criminal complaint against Fujimori for corruption of public officials had been filed by Ugaz. Ceiza said a prosecutor would be assigned to the case. But Ugaz, in a news conference, said that he had not filed a criminal complaint.

“We have requested in generic terms that an investigation be opened for supposed crimes against public administration,” Ugaz said.

He said the request covered a range of possible crimes, including money laundering, corruption of public officials and illicit enrichment during Fujimori’s 10-year autocratic reign.

Fujimori, 62, resigned as president Monday while in Japan and said he plans to stay in his ancestral homeland. Japan has no extradition treaty with Peru. His downfall was started by a corruption scandal surrounding his close ally, Montesinos, who appeared in a video apparently bribing an opposition congressman.

The investigation request came amid allegations that Fujimori ordered a government palace legal aide to pose as a prosecutor and authorize police to carry out a Nov. 7 raid at Montesinos’ apartment.

Dozens of suitcases and boxes--stuffed with documents, videotapes and other evidence related to the corruption case--were taken from the apartment and delivered to the presidential palace, instead of to judicial authorities.

During the raid, Fujimori, with a six-vehicle escort and pursued by reporters, led a bizarre and fruitless hunt for Montesinos in a resort town near Lima, the capital.