HAVANA (AP) _ Cuba's foreign minister on Thursday denied knowing anything about an American multimillionaire who reportedly fled here to avoid tax fraud charges, but said the island is not a haven for those fleeing justice.

"Cuba has never been a refuge for those fleeing justice," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told international journalists.

He pointed out that three men were arrested in Cuba this month on charges stemming from a Mexico City corruption investigation, and that island authorities were working closely with their counterparts from Mexico.

In the U.S. case, publishing tycoon and philanthropist Herbert Axelrod reportedly traveled to Cuba in recent days to avoid arraignment this week on charges he hid income from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Reached in Cuba on Wednesday, Axelrod told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune, "They seem to be going through a lot of trouble over these bogus charges.

"I'd rather be in Cuba than be in jail," he said from the Marina Hemingway resort, where a yacht believed to belong to Axelrod, the Lady Ev II, was docked. American crew members cleaning the boat Thursday declined to answer a reporter's questions about the case and Axelrod's whereabouts.

He told the newspaper he had been in Cuba for the past three weeks, where he is studying coral and said he had the permission of the U.S. government. He said he has been traveling and hasn't been in the United States for about a year.

A federal judge in Trenton, New Jersey, issued a warrant for Axelrod's arrest when he failed to appear for the Wednesday hearing.

The United States has no extradition treaty with Cuba.

Axelrod, 76, is a philanthropist best known for selling millions of dollars worth of musical instruments at a discount to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Axelrod was charged with using Swiss bank accounts to hide more than $700,000 in income from the IRS related to the publishing company he owned that specialized in books on animals and pets.

Axelrod made a fortune in the pet products business, and this month sold his home in the upscale seaside town of Deal, N.J., for about $6.5 million, the newspaper reported.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press