On 7 June 2001, Menem was arrested over a weapons export scandal.
The scheme was based on exports to Ecuador and Croatia in 1991 and 1996.
He was held under house arrest until November.
He appeared before a judge in late August 2002 and denied all charges.
Menem and his Chilean second wife Cecilia Bolocco, who had had a child since their marriage in 2001, fled to Chile.
Argentine judicial authorities repeatedly requested Menem's extradition to face embezzlement charges.
This request was rejected by the Chilean Supreme Court as under Chilean law, people cannot be extradited for questioning.
On 22 December 2004, after the arrest warrants were cancelled, Menem returned with his family to Argentina.
He still faced charges of embezzlement and failing to declare illegal funds in a Swiss bank.
He was declared innocent of those charges in 2013.

In August 2008, the BBC reported that Menem was under investigation for his role in the 1995 Río Tercero explosion, which is alleged to have been part of the weapons scandal involving Croatia and Ecuador.
Following an Appeals Court ruling that found Menem guilty of aggravated smuggling, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on 13 June 2013, for his role in illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia; his position as senator earned him immunity from incarceration, and his advanced age (82) afforded him the possibility of house arrest.
His minister of defence during the weapons sales, Oscar Camilión, was concurrently sentenced to five and a half years.

In December 2008, the German multinational Siemens agreed to pay an $800 million fine to the United States government, and approximately €700 million to the German government, to settle allegations of bribery.
The settlement revealed that Menem had received about US$2 million in bribes from Siemens in exchange for awarding the national ID card and passport production contract to Siemens; Menem denied the charges but nonetheless agreed to pay the fine.

On 1 December 2015, Menem was also found guilty of embezzlement, and sentenced four and half years to prison.
Domingo Cavallo, his economy minister, and Raúl Granillo Ocampo, Menem's former minister of justice, also received prison sentences of more than three years for participating in the scheme, and were ordered to repay hundreds of thousands of pesos’ worth of illegal bonuses.
On 7 June 2001, Menem was arrested over a weapons export scandal. The scheme was based on exports to Ecuador and Croatia in 1991 and 1996. He was held under house arrest until November. He appeared before a judge in late August 2002 and denied all charges. Menem and his Chilean second wife Cecilia Bolocco, who had had a child since their marriage in 2001, fled to Chile. Argentine judicial authorities repeatedly requested Menem's extradition to face embezzlement charges. This request was rejected by the Chilean Supreme Court as under Chilean law, people cannot be extradited for questioning. On 22 December 2004, after the arrest warrants were cancelled, Menem returned with his family to Argentina. He still faced charges of embezzlement and failing to declare illegal funds in a Swiss bank. He was declared innocent of those charges in 2013.
In August 2008, the BBC reported that Menem was under investigation for his role in the 1995 Río Tercero explosion, which is alleged to have been part of the weapons scandal involving Croatia and Ecuador. Following an Appeals Court ruling that found Menem guilty of aggravated smuggling, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on 13 June 2013, for his role in illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia; his position as senator earned him immunity from incarceration, and his advanced age (82) afforded him the possibility of house arrest. His minister of defence during the weapons sales, Oscar Camilión, was concurrently sentenced to five and a half years. 
In December 2008, the German multinational Siemens agreed to pay an $800 million fine to the United States government, and approximately €700 million to the German government, to settle allegations of bribery. The settlement revealed that Menem had received about US$2 million in bribes from Siemens in exchange for awarding the national ID card and passport production contract to Siemens; Menem denied the charges but nonetheless agreed to pay the fine.
On 1 December 2015, Menem was also found guilty of embezzlement, and sentenced four and half years to prison. Domingo Cavallo, his economy minister, and Raúl Granillo Ocampo, Menem's former minister of justice, also received prison sentences of more than three years for participating in the scheme, and were ordered to repay hundreds of thousands of pesos’ worth of illegal bonuses.
Carlos Menem