Fujimori visits Japan amid rumors of seeking asylum

Fujimori visits Japan amid rumors of seeking asylum

TOKYO (AP): Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, fresh from a
summit of Pacific-rim nations in the Southeast Asian nation of
Brunei, flew to Tokyo on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Peruvian Embassy in Tokyo said Fujimori planned to meet
with Japanese government officials to discuss loans for
disbursement in the 2001 fiscal year. But Japanese Foreign
Ministry official Hisashi Ueno said Fujimori was only changing
planes.

Ueno refused to provide further details about the president's
stay.

The visit came amid rumors that Fujimori -- who is rapidly
losing political control at home and was criticized for leaving
Peru to attend the Nov. 15-16 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit -- may be seeking asylum in Malaysia or some other Asian
country.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday
that the speculation was groundless. Fujimori aides also denied
the rumor and the Foreign Ministry's Ueno said the Peruvian
leader had not approached Japan with such a request.

Fujimori's son, Hiro, lives in Japan.

"No comment," Fujimori told reporters after stepping off a
flight from Kuala Lumpur. Fujimori smiled but kept silent when
asked whether he planned to remain in Tokyo. His parents were
immigrants to Peru.

Fujimori spent the afternoon in a meeting with Hiroshi Yasuda,
governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, but
officials declined to give details of the content of the talks.

The meeting had been called at short notice by Peruvian
officials, said a spokesman for the semigovernmental institution,
which helps developing countries, handles overseas development
aid -- including to Peru -- and promotes Japanese trade.
The embassy said Fujimori's trip would be brief.

"I think the president will be attending the Latin-American
meeting in Panama," said Peruvian Consul-General Sanchez Gomez as
Fujimori arrived at his hotel in central Tokyo.

Summit

Latin American presidents have already begun gathering in
Panama for a weekend summit that aims to target poverty affecting
young people in the region.

Fujimori had said he might visit Japan to try to raise funds
for Peru's battered economy.

A bribery scandal involving Fujimori's fugitive ex-spy chief,
Vladimiro Montesinos, plunged Peru into political crisis two
months ago, prompting the president to announce he would quit in
July after elections in April, four years early.

Fujimori has said he will not run in the elections.

He suffered a new blow at home on Thursday when Peru's
opposition took over the powerful presidency of Congress for the
first time in eight years, further eroding his grip on power and
opening the way for possible moves to oust him.

In Lima, political analysts said even if the opposition did
not immediately try to oust Fujimori, the presidency of Congress
would give them the means to push him out of office if Peru's
political turmoil took a turn for the worse.

With imminent changes in the cabinet, there appeared no
respite to the crisis, which was aggravated further when the
government felt obliged to deny reports that Fujimori was seeking
political asylum in Malaysia.

But it was unclear when Fujimori would return to Peru.
Peru's political turmoil has centered on Montesinos, who fled to
Panama after the scandal broke in September but defied Fujimori
three weeks ago by returning to Peru and sparking a major manhunt
led personally by the president.

The ex-spy chief is now wanted on a host of charges from money
laundering to ordering torture and murder after some $58 million
was found in overseas bank accounts linked to him.