Ex-President charged with abuse of power

Press, 30 June 1982, Page 8

Ex-President charged with abuse of power

NZPA-Reuter Buenos Aires . Two charges of abuse of power and falsification of official documents had been lodged against the former Argentine President, Lieutenant General Leopold© Galtieri, a judicial source said in Buenos Aires yesterday. According to the charges General Galtieri returned to the presidential palace three days after he resigned in the wake of Argentina’s defeat in the Falklands and signed 101 official documents.

If the charges were upheld, the source said, the former Interior Minister and interim President (MajorGeneral Alfredo Saint Jean) could be accused of complicity. Also facing complicity charges would be those Ministers who were responsible for the documents. Meanwhile a reliable source said that the Air Force and Navy, which withdrew from the junta last week after the army rejected their demands for a civilianled regime, may now be ready to participate in incoming President Reynaldo

Bignone's Government. This came after a report yesterday that Major-General Bignone had agreed to a civilian vice-president, the former Ambassador to Italy, Rafael Martinez Raymonda, who is a Progressive Democrat. According to the report, the Air Force commander Brigadier-General Basilio Lami Dozo and the Navy commander (Admiral Jorge Anaya) suggested the ap-

pointment at a meeting yesterday.

It was also reported in Buenos Aires yesterday that Argentina had accepted a formal end to hostilities, with Britain. The daily, “Clarin” said that Argentina had accepted United Nations Security Council resolution 502, which called for an end to the fighting and negotiations to resolve the dispute. Buenos Aires had rejected the April 3 resolution, which also had urged Argentina to withdraw its forces from the Falklands.

There was an immediate official confirmation of the report. But the “Clarin,” which has accurately tracked Government policy during the crisis, said Argentina had informed the Security Council of the decision.

Indeed the Foreign Ministry said that it had no knowledge of the reported Note to the United Nations. But the Ministry’s official spokesman, quoted by the official news agency, Telam, did not deny the “Clarin”. report.

The newspaper quoted authoritative sources as saying that the move ...would pave the way for the release of Argentine officers still being

held by Britain — but it did not mean that Argentina had renounced its 150-year-old claim to the islands. Britain said last week that it would be ready to lift air and sea exclusion zones in the South Atlantic, as well as economic sanctions, as soon as it had received “positive indications” that Argentina accepted an end to all hostilities in the region.