Argentina seeks Venezuelan's arrest in cash scandal

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 14 (Reuters) An Argentine prosecutor is seeking an international arrest warrant for a Venezuelan man who carried nearly 800,000 dollars in undeclared cash on a private jet carrying senior Argentine and Venezuelan officials.

The incident ignited the latest corruption allegations to dog the government of Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, whose wife is the front-runner in an October presidential election.

A prosecutor asked a federal judge today to issue the arrest warrant for smuggling charges against businessman Guido Antonini, who has Venezuelan and US passports, after custom officials in Buenos Aires found the cash in his suitcase on Aug. 3.

He arrived in the capital aboard a flight chartered by Argentina's state energy company Enarsa, two days before Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez began a state visit to Argentina.

It remains unclear what the money was for, but judicial officials say they are probing possible links between Antonini and the Argentine or Venezuelan government.

Antonini was traveling from Caracas with Enarsa executives and three employees from Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA.

He immediately left Argentina after customs officials seized the money and his whereabouts are unknown, investigators say.

Last week, Kirchner fired an official who allowed Antonini to board the government-hired jet and his aides have called on Chavez to apologize for the incident, saying Antonini boarded the plane at the request of a PDVSA executive.

But Chavez's ministers insist Antonini is not linked to the government and say the incident is part of a conspiracy by the United States.

Kirchner's economy minister was forced to step down last month after police found more than 60,000 dollars stashed in her office bathroom.

The Argentine leader dismissed two mid-level officials in May as part of a bribery scandal involving Swedish construction company Skanska.

REUTERS RSA KP2344