Warrant For Ex-Argentine Prez

A federal judge issued an international arrest warrant Tuesday for former President Carlos Menem after he refused to appear for questioning in Argentina in connection with a corruption investigation.

Judge Jorge Urso ordered his detention after the former Argentine leader failed to heed a summons to appear in court Tuesday in Argentina, a court spokesman told The Associated Press.

Argentine authorities want to question Menem as part of a probe into alleged financial irregularities involving the privatization of federal prisons carried out during his 1989-99 rule.

Menem, 74, recently moved to Chile, where he is living with his Chilean wife, Cecilia Bolocco, and their 5-month-old son. There was no immediate response by the former president, who last week signaled he would not travel to Argentina for the court appearance.

The court spokesman said Urso would appeal to the Argentine government to seek Menem's extradition from Chile.

Menem, whose presidency was marred by allegations of corruption, is facing several investigations into corruption charges. He also has been summoned by a federal judge to appear in court later this week for allegedly failing to declare a Swiss bank account with Argentine tax officials.

Menem has repeatedly denied the charges in both cases, calling them politically motivated.

In 2001, Menem spent seven months under house arrest during a failed attempt to prosecute the former president in connection with an investigation of alleged arms smuggling.

The probe involved allegations that Argentine weapons were illegally shipped to Croatia and to Ecuador in violation of U.N. weapon embargoes in the 1990s while Menem was in office.

Menem rejected those charges and was freed in November 2001 after the Supreme Court ruled prosecutors had failed to prove accusations that Menem headed an "illicit association" dealing in weapons.

Last year, he sought the presidency again and led the field in the first round with about 25 percent of the vote. Days before a runoff election that polls suggested he would lose, Menem quit the race, allowing Nestor Kirchner to become president.