LIMA, May 21 — Prosecutors in Peru are investigating potential irregularities in presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori’s campaign finances, the attorney general said yesterday, confirming press reports based on leaked documents ahead of a June 5 election.

The money laundering unit in the attorney general’s office is probing campaign donations Fujimori’s centre-right party collected from two cocktail fundraisers and her husband’s purchase of land, Attorney General Pablo Sanchez said.

Fujimori, neck-and-neck in most opinion polls with her centrist rival, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, denied any wrongdoing and said she was the victim of a smear campaign.

A 60-day investigation opened in March at the request of a lawyer with a fringe political party and was extended this month, Sanchez said.

“It’s a preliminary investigation that may or may not go on to a preparatory stage” for presenting charges, Sanchez told reporters after an event on fighting corruption. “More evidence is needed to make a decision.”

The inquiry comes as Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori, faces mounting allegations that she has links to illicit funds.

Her senior aide stepped down on Wednesday after Univision reported he was under investigation for money laundering by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Sanchez said he could not give details on prosecutors’ working hypothesis because ongoing investigations could not be discussed publicly.

Daily El Comercio reported yesterday that the inquiry into Fujimori had been opened March 8, citing a legal document.

“I find it interesting that these type of reports ... are revealed two weeks from the presidential election,” Fujimori said in broadcast comments from a news conference.

“We know there will be more allegations and lies, I ask Peruvians not to fall for it.”

Several high-profile politicians in Peru have been the subject of criminal probes in recent years, but none has led to charges.

Fujimori has struggled to distance herself from rampant corruption in her father’s 1990-2000 government. Alberto Fujimori is now serving a 25-year-sentence for human rights abuses and corruption. — Reuters