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For the alleged crime against public tranquility, in the form of “criminal organization”, the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office opened a new preliminary investigation against President Pedro Castillo. The sixth against him in just one year in office. The new investigation is related to the award of public works, as announced by the investigating entity on August 11.
Just a year and a month ago, Pedro Castillo, a rural teacher and left-wing politician, became President of Peru. Since then the continuity of his mandate has been threatened. A political persecution by his opponents, according to the president, but also accusations of alleged corruption by the authorities.
On August 11, the Attorney General, Patricia Benavides, announced that she had opened a sixth investigation against the head of state.
This time for the alleged crime against public tranquility, in the form of “criminal organization”, in the midst of a preliminary investigation that also involves his sister-in-law Yenifer Paredes and the former Minister of Housing and current Minister of Transportation, Geiner Alvarado .
🔴 The Prosecutor of the Nation Patricia Benavides opens preliminary investigation for the works awarded in the provinces of Chota-Cajamarca and Cajatambo-Lima.https://t.co/UnvKPJA9pL
— RPP News (@RPPNoticias) August 11, 2022
According to the announcement, the investigation is related to works awarded in the city of Chota, Cajamarca, region of origin of the president, in the northwest of the country, and in the district of Cajatambo, located in the Department of Lima, in the center west.
What is the line of investigation?
According to the thesis of the Special Team of Prosecutors against corruption, there would be a “criminal organization”, allegedly directed by the president, in which Minister Alvarado would have served as “lieutenant”, by coordinating the award of infrastructure works to companies. of people known to Castillo.
Specifically, suspicions focus on two alleged front companies: JJM Espino Engineering and Construction SAC, represented by businessman Hugo José Espino Lucana; and Destcon Ingenieros & Arquitectos SAC, represented by Anggi Espino Lucana and Hugo Ananeo Espino Almeida, sister and father respectively of the former.
For JJM Espino Engineering & Construction SAC, worked Yenifer Paredes, younger sister of the first lady and who turned herself in to the authorities on Wednesday, August 10, after a preliminary arrest warrant was issued against her.
The hypothesis indicates that Paredes would have been an intermediary for that company to keep a tender that it won in September 2021 for around one million dollars.
The 26-year-old woman was left at the center of the controversy after a report by the local network ‘América Televisión’, which broadcast a video in which the young woman informed members of a Chota community that she had to register them to build a work of sanitation. All despite the fact that Paredes does not have a position in the Government.
In this case, Paredes, who was raised as a daughter by the president and his wife, had already testified before the Oversight Commission last July. At that time, she confirmed that she worked for the aforementioned company, but that she did not know if the company had any contract with the State.
Regarding the information that her boss, Espino, visited the Government Palace, Paredes replied that this is her place of residence, she does not know Lima and everything happened in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. She also stated that her contract was “verbal”, so “the payment was direct” and she did not sign anything.
The explanations have not convinced the researchers. Espino, his sister Anggie Espino and the mayor of the town of Anguía, in Chota, José Medina Guerrero, were captured on Wednesday. And Paredes is still under the disposition of the Prosecutor’s Office.
Castillo rejects the accusations and rejects a “conspiracy” against him
This is the sixth preliminary investigation against the president. The other five refer to the case of promotions in the Armed Forces, the alleged influence peddling in Petroperú, the alleged plagiarism of his thesis, the Puente Tarata III case and the alleged crime of personal concealment.
The head of state denies all the accusations against him and his family. On Tuesday, after a failed attempt by the authorities to arrest his sister-in-law in the Government Palace, he accused the press, sectors of the political opposition and the Prosecutor’s Office of “conspiring” to “illegally seize power.”
The president stressed that “those who seek to break the constitutional and democratic order are the same ones who denounced a non-existent electoral fraud to ignore” his election as president of the country, after a close contest against the right-wing candidate, Keiko Fujimori.
For now, Castillo’s term, which should end in 2026, is hanging in the balance.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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