Two bills before the Nicaraguan legislature would pardon former President Arnoldo Alemán, convicted of corruption.

BY TIFANI ROBERTS AND FRANCES ROBLES

MANAGUA - Former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán, serving a 20-year sentence for fraud, could soon be freed from house arrest with the help of supporters in Congress who are pushing two laws that would clear him.

Convicted in December of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering for diverting nearly $100 million in the hemisphere's second-poorest nation, the once highly popular president was sentenced to 20 years and fined $10 million.

Alemán, who ruled Nicaragua from 1997 to 2002, still enjoys strong support in the National Assembly, where members of his party are determined to free a man they say was ''kidnapped'' by a criminal justice system obsessed with a politically motivated case.

Devoted Alemán followers in the Liberal Party have proposed one law that would wipe clean the criminal records of any public official convicted of a crime since 1990. But when they tried to move the bill to the appropriate commission Wednesday, 46 lawmakers walked out, breaking the required quorum.

Another bill sent to commission last week would change the money laundering statute Alemán was charged under, limiting it to drug traffickers and thereby clearing him.

''Right now we are working on reaching out to people all over the country so they understand that the whole process against Arnoldo Alemán is invalid,'' said congressman Donald Lacayo, chairman of the congressional justice committee.

Freedom for Alemán would be a setback for current president Enrique Bolaños, his former vice president and hand-picked successor who led the charge to investigate the former president.

Bolaños' crusade against corruption has been vital in his quest to seek favor with Washington and international lenders.

But Bolaños' campaign backfired: most of his own Liberal Party abandoned him for taking on Alemán, leaving the president with just eight votes in Congress.

''It would be a blow not so much to the president and his struggle against corruption but to the nation and its image,'' said Bolaños spokesman Joel Gutiérrez. ``It would be sending the message that this is a country where you can commit any savage act and nothing happens.''

Seven months after Alemán left office, criminal charges were filed against him, four of his relatives and six associates, charging that they swindled the government out of $100 million. Several of his bank accounts and properties in Miami have been frozen.

If the proposal limiting money laundering charges to drug traffickers passes, Alemán's sentence would be overturned. If the amnesty is approved, all cases against Alemán would go away -- as would accusations that Bolaños himself violated campaign laws.

The former president is still waiting trial on another case involving the government TV station. Alemán is accused of embezzling $1.3 million dollars with a half dozen other government officials.

Having the votes to pass two pieces of legislation is another matter. The pro-Alemán Liberals are at least three votes shy of the 47 needed. Together, the Bolaños supporters and the opposing Sandinistas would have a slim majority of two or three votes.

''This initiative was born dead,'' Gutiérrez said, adding that the president has vowed to veto it. But even Bolaños' veto has little weight: A simple majority can override it.