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Nazi war crimes suspect says he's innocent

MELBOURNE: Nazi war crimes suspect Konrad Kalejs said in remarks published on Saturday he was innocent and would have been in jail long ago if allegations against him were true.

"I am innocent - my conscience is clear," Kalejs told the Herald-Sun newspaper. "If these allegations were true I would have been in jail years ago."

Kalejs, an 86-year-old Latvian born Australian citizen, arrived in Melbourne on Friday evening, having left London on Thursday after Britain ordered his deportation.

Members of the Jewish community protesting at the arrival gate called on the Federal Government to open a new investigation into Kalejs.

Nazi hunters say he was a member of a Nazi-run Latvian hit squad responsible for 30,000 deaths during World War Two and should be prosecuted.

Australia has said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Kalejs, who was investigated by its disbanded war crimes unit in the early 1990's.

A spokesman for acting prime minister John Anderson said if fresh evidence that Kalejs had commited a crime emerged it should be referred to the appropriate authorities and would then be investigated.