MADRID (AP) Spain's opposition Socialist party has asked former conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to clarify if he was involved in lucrative arms sales to Libya, Venezuela and other governments after a media report linked him to the deals.
Socialist spokesman Antonio Hernando says in a statement that Aznar must give "immediate explanations" over an "extremely serious" report in news website Infolibre.
Hernando's late Friday statement says Infolibre's investigation reveals email evidence that a former president of Caja Madrid, a bailed-out savings bank, asked an arms trading company to hire Aznar as an intermediary to enable weapons sales to the governments of Algeria, Libya, Russia and Venezuela, among others.
Aznar, prime minister from 1996-2004, said in a statement Friday he has "not participated in any transaction relating to the arms trade."
