MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Menem back in Bs. Aires today.

Former president Carlos Menem is scheduled to appear in court today and promise a judge investigating him on charges of tax evasion that he will never again shun court summons.

The 74-year-old Menem set foot on Argentine soil for the first time in more than nine months last Thursday and got a cheerful welcome from his followers in his home-province La Rioja in northwestern Argentina.

Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide said yesterday that Menem will sign a statement committing himself to appear in court every time he is required. He will, however, not testify today.

Menem, who ushered Argentina into neo-liberalism during his ten years in office, moved to Chile early this year to escape Argentine judges. Apart from the tax evasion case, Menem is also facing charges of corruption while in office in two other separate investigations. Argentine courts issued two extradition requests which were turned down by the Chilean Supreme Court.

He lived in Santiago with his Chilean wife, former beauty queen Cecilia Bolocco, who he married in 2001, and their one-year-old baby boy Máximo Saúl. He decided to fly back home only after the courts told him he would not go to prison as the probes against him continue.

Menem has said that he wishes to re-clinch the helm of the ruling Peronist party, a position he held until 2002. He also said he will seek to muster an opposition front to Kirchner for the 2007 presidential election.