Navy denies accusations

(Peru.com) Navy senior officers deny the accusation made by the Justice Minister, Fernando Olivera, who says the lawyer Jose Echaiz met with the ex intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos on two occasions at Callao Naval Base, OJO newspaper published on its Friday issue.
According to newspaper, the Navy is indignant because the Defense Minister, David Waisman, backed up the accusation in question before conducting an investigation, since the Navy has just started it.

According to senior Navy officers, the accusation made by Echaiz, José Cavaza's (ex manager of the electoral office) lawyer, had many gaps. The most important are how he entered the Base and how Montesinos could go from his cell to the auditorium, where Edaiz says they met.
A senior officer said, "If this were true, then it would mean that the whole Navy is subject to Montesinos, which is unbelievable. In the case the officers and chiefs were involved in this, there is always the possibility that a seaman, a technician or a petty officer disagrees with this, so he could have denounced this serious irregularity".

For the Navy it is suspicious that none of the checkpoints within the base had reported Montesinos' transfer from his cell to the auditorium, to which there are three kilometers.
Finally, the paper states that the accusation lacks evidences, since many of the things said by Jose Echaiz cannot be proved. "The telephone calls he received were made from public phones and he could not identify any of the people who were at the base". The Defense Minister himself said Echaiz' entrance to the base had not been registered.

All the statements given by the lawyer Jose Echaiz will have to be confirmed to know how much influence Vladimiro Montesinos still has on the Navy and to know whether the ex advisor walks freely within the base.