Peru clears Aero Continente founder of drug links

LIMA, Peru, March 28 (Reuters) - A Peruvian court has cleared the founder of Peru's leading airline, Aero Continente, of charges he laundered drug money, a judicial official said on Thursday. 

"The court concluded there was insufficient proof on the charges that (Aero Continente founder Fernando Zevallos) laundered drug money," a court official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. 

The official said the prosecutor was appealing the ruling, which was made late on Wednesday. 

Zevallos, the brother of Aero Continente's current president, was charged with accepting $1 million in drug money to found the airline, which controls 60 percent of Peru's air traffic and is one of Latin America's fastest-growing air carriers. 

Aero Continente, known for its low fares, flies to eight Latin American countries and the United States, and is readying new routes from the United States to Europe and Asia. 

But the airline has been nagged by legal troubles. Its unit in Chile was forced to suspend operations temporarily last year amid allegations that it was laundering drug money. 

The case was eventually closed without charges being brought. Aero Continente blamed the action on Lan Chile, Chile's flagship carrier, a charge the Chilean airline has denied. 

Zevallos also faces a similar investigation in Peru. 

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