First modification:
The offices of the Government Palace and 14 other buildings were the subject of an investigation for alleged corruption in contracts of the state oil company Petroperú. The president, Pedro Castillo, is being investigated for having allegedly favored the acquisition of a company product in favor of the Peruvian company HPO SA
In the early hours of Friday, February 11, teams from Peru’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office arrived at 15 buildings, including the Government Palace, to search and seize assets.
This mega-operative is called ‘Resplandor 2022’ and is in charge of the Directorate against Police Corruption and the Prosecutor’s Office specialized in corruption of officials. Police and prosecutors stayed at Peru’s presidential headquarters until almost noon.
The “Prosecutor’s Office executes the search and home search for seizure purposes in the Government Palace and 14 other properties linked to the investigation for the alleged direction in the acquisition of Biodiesel B100 –by Petroperú– in favor of the company HPO SA”, The Public Ministry announced on its Twitter account.
Prosecutor’s Office executes the search and home search for seizure purposes in the Government Palace and 14 other properties linked to the investigation for the alleged direction in the acquisition of Biodiesel B100 -by Petroperú- in favor of the company HPO SA pic.twitter.com/1TK9Q7CUbQ
– Public Ministry (@FiscaliaPeru) February 11, 2022
The operation was carried out simultaneously in the General Secretariat of the presidential office of the Government Palace and in the buildings of the businessman Samir Abudayeh, the general manager of Petroperú, Hugo Chávez Arévalo, and the businesswoman Karelim López, among others.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, these Petroperú officials “would have colluded and/or were unduly interested in favoring the (Peruvian) company Heaven Petroleum Operators SA with the award of the Biodiesel B100 acquisition process.”
The investigations seek to determine if crimes were committed against the public administration in the form of simple corruption and incompatible negotiation.
The hypothesis of the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the alleged corrupt plot “would have been coordinated through a series of irregularities, whose deployment would be due to alleged collusive agreements that would have been conceived on October 18, 2021 in the Presidential Office.”
President Pedro Castillo, at the center of the accusations
On January 4, the Public Ministry had announced the opening of a preliminary investigation in this case against the president in charge, Pedro Castillo, for alleged influence peddling, collusion and illegal sponsorship.
Castillo is being accused of having allegedly intervened in the process for the acquisition of Biodiesel B100. Petroperú said in a statement from December last year that the company’s general manager, Hugo Chávez Arévalo, had met on October 18 with the country’s president, Pedro Castillo.
According to the Public Ministry, this would have been done “in order for the company Heaven Petroleum Operator, led by businessman Samir Abudayeh, to win a contract for the sum of USD 74 million.”
The investigations against the president will be suspended until Castillo completes his five-year term, in 2026, since the president has absolute immunity.
For his part, Castillo denies having dealt with tenders in the Government Palace and knowing Abudayeh, as well as having spoken with him on occasion.
With AFP and EFE