The Peruvian justice raided without luck this Tuesday night the government palace in Lima in search of Yenifer Paredes, sister-in-law of the leftist president peter castleto arrest her for her alleged participation in a network of corruption and money laundering.
The police operation was carried out at the request of the prosecutor’s office, which requested the “search” of the “residential area of the government palace,” the Court of Justice said in a statement.
(Also read: Another crisis for Pedro Castillo in Peru: the prime minister resigned)
After nearly four hours of searching, the agents left the presidential residence without finding Paredes, for the purposes of a fugitive from justice.
The operation is unprecedented in Peruvian history, where justice had never entered the headquarters of the Executive Power to arrest a person.
Castillo and his family, including his 26-year-old sister-in-law, who considers the president and his wife “parents,” live in the presidential residence that is part of the Government Palace.
In this case, Paredes had already been summoned to testify before the Public Ministry and to appear before a control commission of the Peruvian Congress, in mid-July.
The prosecutor’s office has opened five investigations against President Castillo himself for alleged corruption, another unprecedented situation against a president in the exercise of his functions.
(Also: Peru: Castillo defends his management against the opposition in his first year in office)
🇵🇪 | SCANDAL IN PERU: Special prosecution and police teams do not find Yenifer Paredes in the residence of the Government Palace despite the fact that the PNP claimed that she was there.
The arrest of the sister-in-law of the country’s president, Pedro Castillo, is frustrated. pic.twitter.com/3hAzbVNdBU
— World Alert (@AIertaMundiaI) August 10, 2022
illegal trespassing
Castillo reacted to the unusual situation through a message broadcast on television around 11:00 p.m. local time, describing what happened as an “illegal raid” that is part of a supposed media plan to remove him from power in complicity with the right-wing opposition in Congress.
“Today the Government Palace and the Presidential House have once again been violated with an illegal search endorsed by a judge, coincidentally when the request for my 5-year disqualification is being requested to take away from the Peruvian people their legitimate Government,” said Castillo, a 52-year-old rural teacher and trade unionist.
“All Peruvians are witnesses to the continuous implementation of a media plan that aims to take power illegally and unconstitutionally,” added the president, who has appeared in recent weeks surrounded by justice.
President @PedroCastilloTe: “I was democratically elected president, through a fair electoral process, a position that I hold with honor, responsibility and honesty; however, they persist in ignoring the triumph of the people”. (1/7)
– Presidency of Peru 🇵🇪 (@presidenciaperu) August 10, 2022
The measure comes in the same week that a parliamentary report released on Tuesday recommends disqualifying and prosecuting Castillo politically and criminally, alleging that he committed treason against the homeland by considering a possible popular referendum on granting Bolivia an outlet to the sea, which the president denies.
Castillo celebrated a year in power in July, and in addition to the judicial siege, he has faced two attempts to impeach him from Congress, and has a disapproval of 74% in public opinion, according to surveys.
(Keep reading: Scandals and investigations mark first year of Peru’s president)
A web of corruption
The judicial action occurred simultaneously in different locations of the Peruvian capital, in which José Nenil Medina, mayor of a town in the original region of Castillo, and the business brothers Hugo and Angie Espino, all allegedly linked in the same, were arrested. corruption network, according to the prosecution.
The court authorized the preliminary arrests of those involved for 10 days.
According to a Sunday television program, Paredes and Hugo Espino were offering sanitation works in a town in Cajamarca, the region in northern Peru where she and the president are from.
Castillo’s sister-in-law is the fourth person in the presidential environment investigated for cases of alleged corruption.
(You can read: Peru: the eternal crisis that besieges Pedro Castillo)
The other prosecuted collaborators of Castillo are a nephew who served as an adviser, his former Minister of Transportation, both fugitives from justice, and his former presidential secretary.
The latter turned himself in last week and seeks to reach a collaboration agreement with the prosecution to reduce his alleged crimes.
First lady Lilia Paredes also appeared last month before a parliamentary investigation commission. However, the president’s wife refused to respond to lawmakers “on the recommendation of my lawyer.”
Lilia Paredes had already declared before the Public Ministry for the same case, answering all the questions.
*With information from AFP
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