Argentine cabinet told to cooperate in bribe probe

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) -- Argentina's President Fernando de la Rua told his ministers Tuesday to cooperate fully with an investigation into anonymous charges that officials bribed opposition senators to pass a key labor law.

Vice President Carlos Alvarez said the president was determined to show that his center-left Alliance government had nothing to hide, after eight months in office which it began by promising to clean up Argentina's notoriously dirty politics.

"The first thing the president expressed was his support for, and confidence in, all the officials and cabinet members," Alvarez told a news conference after a cabinet meeting dominated by the scandal.

"At the same time he suggested they do something which some of them had already decided to do, such as the labor minister, who I understand will be voluntarily visiting the Anti-Corruption Bureau this afternoon," he said.

The bureau has launched an investigation into allegations that members of the opposition Peronist-controlled Senate were bribed to vote in April to approve reforms to labor market laws making it cheaper to hire and fire workers.

Bitterly opposed by hardline unions, the reforms were recommended by the International Monetary Fund and aimed at reducing unemployment, which is now at 15.4 percent.

In March, anti-government union leader Hugo Moyano said Labor Minister Alberto Flamarique boasted to him of being able to obtain Peronist votes with an "automatic teller machine".

Now Moyano says he will go to court to have the labor reform overturned because of the bribe charges.

"This law is void because of the manner in which it was passed," Moyano said Tuesday.

Accusations that Peronist senators took bribes first surfaced in La Nacion newspaper in June. Last week, La Nacion said that ministers knew of such rumors months ago.

Alvarez Monday called for senators to forego their immunity from prosecution. But he opposed Peronist calls for De la Rua himself to testify on the charges before the Senate.

The provisional head of the Senate called for early elections next year to wipe the institution's slate clean.

But Sen. Jose Genoud, a member of the same Radical Party as De la Rua which partners the left-leaning Frepaso in the ruling coalition, acknowledged his proposal would be difficult as it would require the fractious Senate to vote to alter the constitution. He also stressed there was no proof for the accusations.

"There is no evidence and I sincerely do not think this took place," Genoud told reporters.

One of the most prominent Peronist senators, Antonio Cafiero, said he is considering calling for the impeachment of a government official -- whom he did not name -- identified in an anonymous letter detailing the bribe charges.

Cafiero said he did not know the identity of fellow Peronists who might have accepted bribe money.

"I don't have proof because no senator is going to confess to me something which carries a jail term. So the evidence has to be sought via a serious investigation," Cafiero said.

The veteran senator said he has been pressured by other members of his party not to push for an investigation.

It has been a terrible month for the government, which has had to deny it will miss budget deficit targets agreed with the IMF, as well as rumors of the resignation of Economy Minister Jose Luis Machinea and a devaluation. The country's economy has also been hit by signs of foot-and-mouth disease antibodies in cattle -- causing major export markets to stop beef purchases.

The Alliance was elected last year by a country weary of the corruption scandals that regularly marred the 10-year rule of Peronist President Carlos Menem.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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