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- WORLD, Page 34World NotesPERUIs Garcia on The Ropes?
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- "I have a clear conscience." So said the former President of
- Peru, Alan Garcia Perez, now a Senator for Life, before the
- Chamber of Deputies mustered a narrow majority last week to
- begin proceedings to lift his congressional immunity from
- prosecution on charges that he embezzled $500,000 from public
- coffers and evaded taxes.
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- Doubt was first cast on Garcia last April when House
- Deputy Fernando Olivera charged that Garcia had stolen $50
- million from the treasury while serving as President. Olivera
- maintained that Garcia channeled the funds through the Bank of
- Credit and Commerce International. Olivera's charges have yet
- to be substantiated, but the ensuing publicity made Garcia one
- of the most prominent politicians to be touched by the B.C.C.I.
- scandal.
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- It is not at all certain, however, that he will be found
- guilty of embezzlement. Before there is a trial, the House vote
- on immunity must first be repeated in the Senate. If formal
- charges are then brought, Garcia's case will be tried in the
- Supreme Court -- which is packed with his own appointees.
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