"One time Montesinos lost $1 million when he carelessly spilled his cup of coffee on a bank certificate, which was ruined. From then on he put his money in bank accounts," attorney Luis Vargas, who heads the government's mammoth case against Montesinos, told reporters Wednesday. In Peru, bank certificates are used like cash and cannot be replaced.

Montesinos, who faces more than 50 separate trials, kicked off the 2000 corruption scandal that toppled his former boss ex-President Alberto Fujimori when he was seen in a secret video paying a bribe to an opposition politician.

He was accused of piling up a illegal fortune of more than $250 million in state funds and kickbacks as well as orchestrating bribes, arms deals and even human rights abuses as the right-hand man to Fujimori, who ruled this Andean nation with an iron fist from 1990-2000.

Montesinos is locked up at a top-security Lima naval base while Fujimori is in exile in Japan.

The ranks of more than 1,000 people charged in crimes linked to Montesinos include high-profile politicians, military officers, businessmen, judges and journalists.

Vargas said the million-dollar coffee accident was one of the reason Montesinos began depositing ill-obtained money in bank accounts.