Fujimori denies secret bank accounts exist

INCORPORTATES LAM 0200 PERU DEFENCE MINISTER The former Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori, has categorically rejected allegations that he has eighteen million dollars hidden in secret bank accounts.

Mr Fujimori told a Japanese newspaper -- Yomiuri Shimbun -- in the third of a four-part series of articles that the allegations were "imaginary" and an attempt to destroy him politically.

Mr Fujimori also attacked what he called the "ruling class" in Peru, saying the opposition now holding power was seeking to justify its takeover by discrediting him.

Meanwhile, the former defence minister of Peru, Victor Malca, is reported to have gone to the Cayman Islands to try to gain access to at least fourteen million dollars allegedly held in secret bank accounts.

The claim was made by David Waisman, who is leading an inquiry into the former intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. So far, more than seventy-million dollars has been discovered in secret accounts linked to Mr Montesinos, who is on the run from the Peruvian authorities.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service