Fujimori (70) acknowledged he paid Montesinos the sum from government funds but added that he had later reimbursed the state. Therefore no crime was committed, his attorneys said at the opening of the trial in Peru. Defense attorney Cesar Nakazaki said he has evidence to prove the money has been returned.

Prosecutor Avelino Guillen called Fujimori’s claim into question. He asked the judge to sentence the former president to eight years in prison and a fine of some 650,600 dollars for this case, which also includes charges of embezzlement. 

The then head of the Peruvian intelligence service Montesinos received the money in September 2000 so that he would leave office. Two months later Fujimori fled to Japan in the midst of a corruption scandal involving Montesinos, abruptly ending Fujimori’s 10 years in power. The scandal erupted after footage emerged showing Montesinos bribing opposition politicians and media magnates. The former spy chief is already serving a prison sentence on multiple corruption charges.

Monday’s hearing was cut short after the defence requested medical attention for Fujimori, who suffering from high blood pressure. The trial will resume on Wednesday and a ruling may follow on Friday, Judge Cesar San Martin said. Several of Fujimori’s former ministers are expected to testify during the trial. 

Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April this year after he was found guilty of authorizing an army death squad that killed 25 civilians and ordering the kidnapping of a businessman and a journalist in the early nineties.

At the time of the conviction he was already serving a six-year sentence for a separate 2007 trial in which he was found guilty of abusing power.

Fujimori, who has denied the charges throughout the trial saying they are politically motivated, has been held at a police base in the Peruvian capital Lima since he was extradited from Chile in September 2007.

Fujimori’s presidency lasted from 1990 to 2000. His supporters credit him with crushing the violent left-wing guerrilla group Shining Path and saving Peru from economic collapse during his time in office.

Some opinion polls suggest his daughter Keiko is a frontrunner to the presidential elections in 2011.