Prime Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar on Friday said Peru cannot take deposed President Alberto Fujimori into custody because the country has no formal extradition treaty with Japan.
"There is no hope (of Fujimori being extradited)," Perez de Cuellar told Kyodo News at his private residence in Lima. "We cannot do anything about that."
Perez de Cuellar, a former U.N. secretary general who also serves as Peru's foreign minister, apparently has not abandoned hope that Japan may cooperate with the criminal investigation in Peru. He said he would expect Japan to respond appropriately if there was evidence that Fujimori committed a crime.
Fujimori, who tendered his resignation from Tokyo last month, only to be dismissed by the Peruvian Assembly, has been linked to allegations of fraud and drug-trafficking made against his former aide and intelligence chief Vladimir Montesinos.