Montesinos accuses Fujimori of ordering the bribery

The BBC correspondent in Lima, Claire Marshall, says that the international arrest warrant is something that Japan cannot ignore and that it will present Japan with a dilemma over whether to extradite one of its own nationals.

The disgraced former leader is of Japanese descent and has since claimed Japanese citizenship.

There is no extradition treaty between Japan and Peru and until now the government in Tokyo has insisted Mr Fujimori will not be sent back to Lima.

Government priority

The new Peruvian President Alejandro Toldeo has stated that seeing Mr Fujimori face justice in Peru is a very high priority for his government.

Mr Fujimori is accused of having direct links to the theft of millions of dollars in state funds.

His 10-year rule ended in November last year when he resigned his post, amid mounting corruption scandals surrounding his former spy chief and adviser, Vladimiro Montesinos.

The Peruvian Congress later rejected Mr Fujimori's resignation and sacked him for "dereliction of duty".

Denial

Mr Montesinos was discovered hiding in Venezuela, and returned to Peru at the end of June.

Since then, he has been kept in the maximum-security jail in the port of Callao facing charges ranging from murder, drugs trafficking and corruption.

Mr Montesinos has accused Mr Fujimori of directly ordering a campaign to bribe members of the Peruvian Congress.

But the ex-president has denied any implication in the alleged corrupt practices of his former adviser.