An international warrant for the arrest of former Argentine President Carlos Menem and a request for his extradition were sent to the Interpol and the Argentine Foreign Ministry, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The warrant was issued on Tuesday after Menem had failed to appear in court for four times in an ongoing probe into charges of embezzling up to 60 million US dollars in public funds during his 1989-1999 rule. It was approved by Buenos Aires Federal Chamber President Martin Irurzun on Wednesday.

The arrest order will be sent to the headquarters of the Interpol, which will transmit the order to all its offices.

The extradition request will be delivered to the Chilean government by the Argentine Embassy in Chile, judicial sources said.

Menem, 73, recently moved to Chile to live with his Chilean wife and their 5-month-old son. He said last week that he would not travel to Argentina for the court appearance.

The former president has repeatedly denied the charges of corruption, describing them as politically motivated.

In 2001, Menem was put under house arrest for seven months during a failed attempt to prosecute him in connection with alleged weapons smuggling.

Source: Xinhua