By Peter Greste BBC correspondent in Buenos Aires

Menem: Scorned after pulling out of recent presidential elections

Argentina's lawmakers have ordered two judges to speed up their investigations into alleged corruption by the former president Carlos Menem.

The inquiries have been stalled for years, but since Mr Menem withdrew from last month's presidential elections, there has been renewed pressure to pursue the allegations.

The charges that Mr Menem is facing are nothing new - illegal enrichment, and the failure to declare foreign bank accounts, are allegations that the former president has fought off for years.

But now that the man once thought of as Argentina's supreme powerbroker is politically broken, there's a renewed effort to make him answer the charges.

The case against Mr Menem is based on a Swiss bank account containing $650,000 - the alleged proceeds from an illegal sale of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador at a time when both countries were under UN arms embargoes.

Mr Menem has already spent time in prison over the weapons sale, though last year the case was thrown out and he was released.

Purge

His critics say that is because he used his influence in the courts to pervert justice.

Mr Menem himself says it is because the case was trumped up by his political enemies.