No deal with Montesinos - Peru

Montesinos faces weeks of questioning

The Peruvian Government says there will be no deal with Vladimiro Montesinos, following reports that the former spy chief is seeking lenient treatment in return for collaborating with the authorities.

I have videos that could provoke an international crisis

Vladimiro Montesinos

Through his lawyers, Mr Montesinos has offered to turn over 30,000 secret video-tapes which could incriminate dozens more Peruvian officials in acts of corruption.

But Justice Minister Diego Garcia Sayan, told the BBC that if Mr Montesinos had any evidence of corruption, he should hand it over to the six anti-corruption judges in charge of his case.

The former spy chief has threatened a hunger strike

Correspondents say Mr Montesinos' offer appears to be linked to a threat to imprison him in Lima's maximum security prison, which he personally designed to hold jailed left-wing rebels.

There have also been reports that Mr Montesinos fears that some high level military officers may want him silenced.

'Fujimori sought'

The Peruvian Government has also said it will rekindle its efforts to extradite the disgraced former President Fujimori from his self-imposed exile in Japan.

Peru wants to extradite Mr Fujimori from Japan

In another development, the Venezuelan Government says it has also begun an inquiry into how Mr Montesinos was able to remain undetected in the country for so long.

The former spy chief was hauled back to Peru on Monday after being arrested by Venezuelan intelligence officers on Sunday.

Mr Montesinos, who spent eight months on the run, says he has incriminating tapes of meetings with businessmen, diplomats and politicians going back to 1990.

Last September, a video showing him apparently bribing an opposition congressman triggered his own and Mr Fujimori's downfall.

Since then hundreds more videos have been recovered, showing Mr Montesinos or subordinates paying off election officials, military chiefs and businessmen as part of a web of corruption which kept Mr Fujimori in power.

'Acting on orders'

According to Peruvian newspapers, Mr Montesinos also claimed he recorded the videos on Mr Fujimori's orders.

Mr Montesinos faces 52 charges, although these are likely to be simplified into separate fields such as drug trafficking, arms dealing and human rights violations.

"It is a wide range of crimes that practically covers the majority of the penal code," said Jose Ugaz, appointed to investigate Mr Montesinos.

It could be months, however, before the case reaches court.