Pedro Castillo will go from being a witness to being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office for his alleged leadership “of a criminal organization” entrenched in the State to obtain “illegal benefits” from the contracts signed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. For his part, the president’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit for “protection of rights” with which he seeks to prevent this process.
A new setback for the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo. This Wednesday, June 15, the Congressional Oversight Commission changed the status of the president from a witness to being investigated for allegedly leading “a criminal organization” entrenched in the State to obtain “illegal benefits” from the contracts signed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
These accusations place him as the person responsible for organizing the awarding of works to businessmen who collaborated with his electoral campaign and for appointing officials related to that task.
The objective of this decision, according to Héctor Ventura, the president of the Congressional Oversight Commission, is for “the head of state to answer the commission’s questions about the alleged irregularities committed during his government,” linked to the meetings in a building in the district of Breña, in Lima.
This, because he was summoned three times to give “a transparent, very responsible statement”, but he refused to do so.
After exhausting the preliminary route to take the testimony of the Pdt. @PedroCastilloTe being invited to the @C_Control on 3 occasions, today it has been decided to change his status from witness to INVESTIGATED. He will be summoned again in the next few days. #CasoSarratea
– Héctor Ventura Angel (@hventuracongre) June 15, 2022
The change of status to investigated “will allow us, at the time, the possibility of filing criminal and constitutional complaints,” Ventura said, since article 117 of the Peruvian Constitution allows the commission to carry out acts of investigation against the chief. of State, with the powers that the plenary session of Congress granted them.
Finally, the Fujimori legislator, in opposition, stated that “the entire country needs our president to respond to these serious accusations of alleged acts of corruption.”
In case of being found guilty, the resolutions must be evaluated by the Public Ministry.
Defense of Castillo files a lawsuit for “protection of rights”
Parallel to this decision, Castillo’s lawyer, Benji Espinoza, filed a “protection of rights” lawsuit to annul this process.
Espinoza declared that the National Prosecutor is not competent to investigate the president, since he “can only be accused during his term of treason against the country, for preventing elections, for dissolving Congress, or preventing the operation of electoral bodies. ”.
Indeed, he considered that Castillo has received “discriminatory treatment” because no former Peruvian president has been investigated during his term.
#Now Pedro Castillo’s lawyer, Benji Espinoza, supports his request (protection of rights) to annul the open investigation against the president in the Provías case. Castillo is being investigated for influence peddling, aggravated collusion and criminal organization. @Politica_LR pic.twitter.com/TuxnpU6oFT
– Alonso Collantes (@acollantes_r) June 15, 2022
On the other hand, Samuel Rojas, representative of the National Prosecutor’s Office, explained to the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation of Peru that although “the President of the Republic can only be investigated for treason against the fatherland or preventing elections, while he is in office position”, the State must also fulfill its task of “combating acts of corruption”.
Rojas stressed that the investigation against Castillo “does not come from an accusation of a civil organization, nor from a member of Congress,” but from information “produced in tax investigations” that yielded evidence of “the existence of a criminal organization that manages the State using these contracts to obtain illegal benefits”.
Indeed, “this circumstance makes it necessary for the Public Ministry to adopt the measure of varying the criteria, given the seriousness of the accusations and the indications that make this accusation not political,” Rojas pointed out.
In this way, Castillo became “the first president of the State who is called to safeguard the national interest” when he was “accused of perpetrating crimes of corruption of officials.
Involved in the process
In these processes, the former minister Juan Silva, the former secretary of the Presidency Bruno Pacheco and a nephew of Castillo are currently denounced and with an arrest warrant.
This, because Karelim López and Zamir Villaverde, admitted to the Prosecutor’s Office that they had represented companies that won the awards.
The businessmen presented audios that revealed that Villaverde gave 30,000 soles (about 8,000 dollars) to Silva to give to Castillo. The audios also gave indications that López gave the head of state a total of 155,000 soles (about 41,000 dollars) in the Government Palace and in a house that he used during the electoral campaign.
For his part, Castillo’s former secretary, Bruno Pacheco, was charged with asset imbalance four months after taking office and after the prosecution found $20,000 hidden in the bathroom of his office.
Ten months of storm for Pedro Castillo
Pedro Castillo has been involved in several scandals since he began his term, on July 28, 2021. The president has faced two vacancy motions, although neither has prospered.
According to a study carried out at the beginning of the month by the Peruvian Company for Market Studies and Public Opinion (CPI), 71.4% of Peruvians disapprove of Castillo’s administration. The same analysis revealed that in Lima, where a third of the national population lives, the president only has 7.9% support.
Meanwhile, Congress began the process to remove and disqualify Dina Boluarte, vice president of the Andean country, for violating the Constitution and allegedly committing a series of crimes.
With EFE and local media
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