MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Menem spent “astronomical” amounts on his foreign trips.

The Argentine government said Thursday that on his many trips abroad when he was president from 1989 to 1999, Carlos Menem spent “astronomical sums.” ”On every trip he made, Menem would spend astronomical amounts.

State assets were squandered as if they were his own or as if they did not belong to anybody," said presidential secretary Oscar Parrilli.

The official, one of the closest aides to President Nestor Kirchner, said that on the president's orders, an investigation was being conducted into "all the expenses" for the presidential jet in recent years.

"What we have reviewed were the 2003 and 2002 trips and now we are finishing with our investigation of the 2001 and 2000 trips." Parrilli told Buenos Aires' Radio Mitre.

Menem was the Argentine president who went abroad most frequently, traveling some 3.5 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) during his 10-year stint as president. The distance is equivalent to 88 trips around the world, or almost nine times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

Kirchner dismissed three air force officers in charge of the presidential plane Tango 01 last month for allegedly attaching surcharges to plane maintenance and fuel expenses. Media reports said that each of the six trips Kirchner has made abroad since his inauguration on May 25 had cost around $100,000 in catering, airport fees, fuel and presidential plane maintenance.

The government took the issue to court, which will start questioning the dismissed air force officers and the plane's food caterer beginning on Friday.

Parrilli said that it was up to federal Judge Maria Servini de Cubria, handling the case of alleged corruption surrounding Tango 01, to investigate the trips abroad by former Presidents Menem, Fernando de la Rua (1999-2001) and Eduardo Duhalde (January 2002 to May 2003).