Peru Leader Voices 'Disappointment' in Corruption Scandal

[Darranar]

Peru Leader Voices 'Disappointment' in Corruption Scandal

LIMA, Peru, Feb. 1 (Reuters) — President Alejandro Toledo of Peru has distanced himself from a corruption scandal that has shaken his government, saying that he knew nothing about it and that "anyone who is corrupt is my enemy."

But opposition politicians, some of whom have called for him to quit, said his message was not enough to restore credibility in the battered administration, in power for two and a half years.

In a televised address to the nation late Saturday, Mr. Toledo said he was "disappointed" that his friend and former intelligence chief, César Almeyda, had met with Oscar Villanueva, a retired general. General Villanueva was a major figure in the corruption network led by Vladimiro Montesinos, the country's intelligence chief in the 1990's.

A transcript of an audiotape that was described as a conversation between Mr. Almeyda and General Villanueva in December 2001, five months after Mr. Toledo took office, has been published in Peruvian newspapers. In it, Mr. Almeyda is represented as discussing "putting pressure" on judges and seeing if they could be "bought" to help General Villanueva.