Dead prosecutor had wanted to arrest president

Chief investigator Viviana Fein said late Tuesday that police had found a draft document in the deceased's trash bin requesting the arrest of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

In the document, prosecutor Alberto Nisman (pictured above), who was found dead at his home on January 18, alleges foul play on the part of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner regarding the investigation and prosecution of alleged Iranian terrorists.

About-face after newspaper publishes draft arrest request

The turnaround announcement comes after Fein previously denied that such evidence had been gathered, as claimed in an article published on Sunday in the Clarin newspaper. Cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich took the article and tore it up before journalists on Monday, exclaiming that the story had been fabricated by the "opposition media."

In reaction, the newspaper published a copy of the draft, which was dated June, 2014. It said Nisman also had considered asking for arrest orders against Fernandez's foreign minister and other officials in her government.

Fein responded on Tuesday, saying she had known of the existence of the draft document and that she had made an error of "terminology and interpretation," saying there had been a miscommunication with her office.

"The words I should have used are: 'I know that there was a draft'" of a document, she said. But she said its existence "is not important enough to change the course of the investigation."

Dangerous investigation leaves public prosecutor dead

Public prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead at his home with a bullet wound to the head on January 18. He had been investigating the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) community center which left 84 people dead and over 300 injured. The attack is thought to have been carried out by an Iranian terrorist.

It's still not clear whether Nisman shot himself or foul play was involved although preliminary investigations said suicide appeared likely. He was expected to testify in a closed congressional hearing one day after his body was found. He had previously written a report accusing President Fernandez and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of seeking to avoid the prosecution of eight Iranian suspects by issuing an "express directive." This, he had contended, was done in a bid to win favor in Tehran, with whom the government he alleged had agreed to swap grain for oil. "The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran's innocence to sate Argentina's commercial, political and geopolitical interests," Nisman said a week before his death.

Fernandez denies allegations against her. In late January, she also said she was sure Nisman's death was not suicide, but suggested that he was probably killed in a bid to discredit her government. She suggested that his death had been carefully timed and the prosecutor himself had been used to frame her and other officials.

"The true operation against the government was the prosecutor's death after accusing the president, her foreign minister, and the secretary-general [of her political party] of covering up for the Iranians accused in the AMIA attack," Fernandez wrote.

Argentina's president gave no evidence to support her theory, and did not elaborate on who she believed was behind the alleged conspiracy.

sb/msh (AP, dpa)