Fujimori vows to make a comeback

By F. J. Khergamvala

TOKYO, NOV. 26. The former Peruvian President, Mr. Alberto Fujimori, has said he plans to return to Peruvian politics. On Sunday morning, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun cited him as saying that running for Congress (Parliament) was one of the possibilities being considered by Mr. Fujimori.

Speaking on TV Asahi on Sunday morning, Mr. Fujimori said the timing of his return would depend upon the situation in Peru and his perception of it. He declined to clarify. During separate interviews to all major Japanese dailies late on Saturday night, Mr. Fujimori did not rule out a return to Peru to participate in the special elections scheduled for April 8 next year. He had come to Japan for an indefinite stay immediately after the two Asia-Pacific summit in Brunei from 14 November.

Speaking to the media for the first time since his formal dismissal by the Congress and since his disappearance from a Tokyo hotel last Wednesday, Mr. Fujimori shed no light on his nationality, a question that remains in the fog of technicality in the context of allegations made against Mr. Fujimori as well as his political ambitions. He said that he would live in Japan until inquiries in Peru cleared his name of charges like treason, drug trafficking, illegal enrichment and concealment.

Mr. Fujimori was responding to allegations at home that during his 10 years in power, when Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos was his spy chief, Mr. Fujimori had stashed away $ 18 millions remitted to his three accounts in Japan through Singapore institutions. Mr. Montesinos' whereabouts are not known, though it is by now accepted that he had a sizable slush find.

Mr. Fujimori denied allegations of impropriety in all his interviews, adding that he had erred in trusting his spy chief. In Lima, a special investigator appointed by the Peru Government said late last week that the Attorney General had been asked to investigate these charges. The announcement was made after Mr. Fujimori was removed by the Peruvian Congress last Tuesday. In Tokyo, one of the banks named, The Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi, has said because of the bank's policy on privacy, it will not disclose to the public if Mr. Fujimori has an account. It added that it had not been formally asked for such disclosures, but it would consider its response if were to be asked. After being in hiding for the past few days, ostensibly because of security reasons according to the Japanese Government, Mr. Fujimori suddenly decided to approach the media. Speaking in Miura, an hour's train ride from Tokyo, from the home of the politically influential novelist, Ms Ayako Sono, he seemed to place the onus of his nationality on the Japanese Government. It would appear that Mr. Fujimori and the Japanese Government have vested interests in the allegations made against the Latin American figure of Japanese extraction.

In a shrewd move, Mr. Fujimori has said that ``it is right that my parents registered (his) birth with the Japanese Consulate in Lima, but that does not mean I have Japanese nationality. It is not upto me to decide.'' Mr. Fujimori's tailor parents migrated to Peru in 1934 from Kawachi, a southwest town in Japan. Officials in Japan have said that Mr. Fujimori's name appears in the family register in that town. Therefore, technically he is a Japanese national. The matter is highly sensitive because, by virtue of having been President of Peru, and possible future ambitions in Peru, it is automatically accepted that Mr. Fujimori must have been a Peruvian national. In such an event, he cannot be a national of Japan, which officially does not allow dual nationality. If he is not a Japanese national, Tokyo cannot provide him shelter under the absence of an extradition treaty with Peru, if the Government now in power there seeks Mr. Fujimori's return.

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Section  : International
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